
Class. I '. 



Book. 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. 



American Junkers 

A POLITICAL OFFERING TO THE 
SO-CALLED "COMMON HERD" 



BY 

BILL SMITH, of Illinois 
(One of the Herd) 

INTENDED AS AN INTRODUCTION 
TO A STUDY OF AMERICAN POLITICS 



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Boston 

The Roxburgh Publishing Company 

Inc. 



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Copyrighted, 1920 

By C. N. PATTY 

Rights Reserved 



MAY -8 1920 



©CU56G916 



DEDICATION 

To the INDEPENDENT INDIVIDUAL 
of either sex, young or old, high or low, rich or 
poor, white or black, red or yellow, of any 
country, clime or nation, who dares to live 
loyal and true to himself — to his own highest 
conception of Right, of Truth, of Justice — 
and who insists upon living his own life in his 
own way in freedom, unhampered by a single 
restriction upon that freedom, except the single 
one of justice as embodied in the Golden Rule, 
is this volume affectionately dedicated, in the 
Altruistic Spirit of Universal Brotherhood — A 
Democracy safe for the world — by, 

THE AUTHOR 



PREFACE 

If I were asked briefly to describe this 
work, I would say it is philosophic in its 
nature, having its strongest bearing upon the 
innermost "life-theory" of the Individual 
considered as a single factor in the organized 
body of society and thru him upon Political, 
Religious and Social Conditions existing at 
this time with us, and constitutes in fact, a 
presentation of the doctrines of Modern 
Individualism — Democracy. 

It is more suggestive than exhaustive; the 
writer has merely striven to present his sub- 
ject from a somewhat different slant, and has 
simply blazed the way, leaving it for others 
to enlarge upon the theme; neither is it 
offered in an argumentative way; neverthe- 
less, sometimes a question is asked which 
presents an appearance of argument. 

The writer has never thought of his work as 
literature; he sincerely indulged the notion 
that he had a message of truth to deliver, and 
in its delivery has tried to ignore everything 
that tended, in any way, to weaken or 



O PREFACE 

obscure the clarity and force of his presenta- 
tion of that message; ergo, it naturally 
follows, that those who value elegance of 
literary diction, more than truth, will do well 
to lay this book aside without further waste 
of time. 

Man's progress upward from savagery to a 
higher civilization, certainly is a slow, long- 
drawn-out, tedious, evolutionary process; 
he seems continually to yearn for the light, 
and in a groping sort of way, seems con- 
tinually to struggle in that direction; but 
he seems amazingly blind to the light, never- 
theless, and seems wholly unable to distinguish 
the difference between real light and the 
phosphorescent glow of self-derived intelli- 
gence — that ignis fatuus — jack-o-lantern — 
will-o-the-wisp — floating over the dismal 
swamps of man's vanity — self-conceit — 
frequently to his complete bewilderment and 
final undoing. 

This work has been dedicated to the 
INDEPENDENT INDIVIDUAL, as a 
method of emphasizing the dignity and 
importance of the Individual as a factor in 
the organized body ; organized society cannot 



PREFACE 7 

too soon awake to the fact that its efforts 
to develop the individual from the outside 
must ever prove delusive and unsatisfactory. 

The writer unqualifiedly subscribes to the 
belief that our American concept upon this 
subject is the true one, consequently, that 
each individual should be permitted to live 
his own life in his own way, in freedom, un- 
hampered by restrictions thereon, except the 
single one of justice as embodied in the 
Golden Rule. 

Therefore, it naturally follows, that the 
mutual interests of organized society, are 
inseparably joined with sound and healthy 
notions concerning the right development of 
the individual; organized society cannot 
foster, nurse, maintain any political, religious 
or social system which tends to stunt or, even 
to check the right development of the Indi- 
vidual, without a betrayal of itself. 

The fact that for nearly 130 years we have 
idiotically been trying to live a "double life," 
politically, would seem to indicate that 
even we have not yet emerged from the 
"bonehead" class of nations; this book is 
written with an honest desire on the part of 



8 PREFACE 

the writer to contribute "his bit" toward the 
growth of a public sentiment so sound and 
healthy, that an imperative demand will 
follow for something better, along the lines 
indicated. 



THE AUTHOR. 



Waukegan, 111. 

February 19th, 1918. 



AMERCAN JUNKERS 



A Preliminary Task 

If we want to erect a new building where an 
old one already stands, we know of course, 
that it will be positively necessary first to 
remove the old one; we must "clear the deck 
for action," so to speak; again, looking at the 
subject from a somewhat different slant, 
observation and experience make it easy to 
believe, that the human mind (speaking in a 
general way) is like a jug, and that it — the 
jug — cannot be filled with any substance 
until some practical provision shall have 
been made for the escape of the air already 
contained therein. 

It being a physical impossibility to force 
anything into a jug already filled with air, 
likewise it is impossible to force truth into 
any mind already filled with falsity — or 
equally as bad — with a spirit of complacent 
conceit — (vanity), which effectually bars 
any further mental growth — development; 



10 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

and this principle applies with equal force to 
all organized forms of society from the village 
up, not overlooking nor omitting "the party"; 
whenever any community indulges a spirit of 
self-satisfied complacency — content — it is 
absolutely impossible to reach it with any 
truth which does not harmonize with what 
it thinks it already knows, consequently, any 
presentation of a truth which antagonizes 
any of its preconceived ideas is merely 
"casting pearls before swine"; (the writer 
has "been thru the mill," and received his 
spanking for having "talked too much," 
hence he knows precisely whereof he 
speaks) . 

"It is an ill wind that blows no good," is an 
old adage and a true one ; this World War is a 
heartbreaking calamity, but it is very doubt- 
ful whether, in the entire history of man's 
progress toward a higher civilization, there 
has been a time when so many people were 
seriously and earnestly studying the funda- 
mental principles of government — politics — 
as at the present moment; nor has there 
ever been a time when this study was carried 
on in so broad and receptive an attitude of 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 11 

mind. Everyone seems to realize the fact 
that no government has any real claims to 
perfection, hence, that it is up to the student 
to carefully investigate and compare, with a 
view to arriving at a clear and well-defined 
conception of the best — the one best adapted 
to man's innate nature, and highest develop- 
ment — growth. 

No matter what the final outcome of the 
war may be, the world's conception of the 
true ideal of government will, in all probabil- 
ity, be much purified and elevated. There- 
fore, it is up to each and every American citi- 
zen to create and spread as high, clear and 
healthy an ideal of Democracy as is possible 
for him to conceive; in this connection the 
importance of frankly admitting our mistakes 
is clearly apparent; such admission will tend 
to speed up their correction, and thus give 
momentum to the belief that our "Democ- 
racy is safe for the world." 

The writer is not a prophet nor the son of a 
prophet, but it does not require the prophetic 
vision to see, that Americans are waking up 
to the importance of carefully studying exist- 
ing political conditions in this country, with 



12 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

a view to improving them wherever possible; 
hence, when the end of the war comes, no 
doubt it will find us better able to understand 
and appreciate our own government, there- 
fore, better fitted to hand down to coming 
generations, high, clear and healthy ideals 
thereof. 

In this country public sentiment is set up 
as the final arbiter in the decision of all pub- 
lic questions, hence the health of the public 
mind becomes, by all odds, the most impor- 
tant phase of our national existence; conse- 
quently, at all times whether times of war or 
times of peace, our love of country — patri- 
otism — should lead each and every American 
citizen of either sex, young or old, high or 
low, rich or poor, white or black, red or yel- 
low, to become a careful, serious, earnest and 
persistent student of government — politics 
— from the standpoint of the public good 
This duty rests on all alike, on our public 
press, our pulpit, our bench and bar, as well 
as on each and every individual citizen, 
each in his (or its) own sphere of in- 
fluence. 

Of course 129 years of an active and intense 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 13 

national life under a new and untried consti- 
tution, could not fail to produce mistakes 
galore, some of which were, and still are, very 
serious; but in this connection it is well to 
continuously bear in mind, that Democracy 
frankly admits its imperfections; instead of 
trying to cover them up. It employs its ener- 
gies in persistent efforts to correct them; it is 
assumed that many mistakes will be made, 
and that good government is necessarily an 
evolutionary process, a matter of develop- 
ment or growth, which, unavoidably, is very, 
very slow; its main reliance is in or on the 
moral sense of the common people for a 
healthy development — progress ; the very soul 
of Democracy is wrapt up in Mr. Lincoln's 
homely aphorism, "you can't fool all the 
people, all the time." 

Like the continual struggle of the plant 
toward the light, it is assumed that the natural 
innate and persistent aspiration of the so- 
called "common herd" is toward better gov- 
ernment, and that if the liberties of that class 
are wisely safeguarded, they eventually will 
attain that end; it presupposes clash and 
struggles growing out of honest differences of 



14 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

opinion; the crowning glory of our Constitu- 
tion rests in the fact, that each individual 
citizen is free (so long as he does not interfere 
with the general welfare) to strive in every 
way within his power, for the correction of 
whatever, in his opinion, is inimical to the 
public good. 

Democracy is comparatively young yet, 
and is much like a baby in its efforts to learn 
to walk; gets many bumps and bruises, but 
from each bump and each bruise, it acquires 
more or less of the wisdom necessary finally 
to reach the desired end; we Americans de- 
rive an immense satisfaction from our realiza- 
tion of the fact that while we cannot ever 
hope to reach perfection, nevertheless, the 
high privilege is ours to keep up the struggle 
to draw nearer thereto. Many problems re- 
main yet to be solved, but we believe we can 
solve them, when the right time comes; we 
are somewhat slow to take up with fads, but 
it is the final decision which counts; we may 
(yes, probably do) go wrong 99 out of 100 
times but that one hundredth time is our 
salvation: it is the solid rock upon which the 
framers of our Constitution solidly laid their 
foundation. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 15 

It is a matter of much surprise and deep 
concern, to every American who is serious 
minded and loves his country, that so many 
native born Americans are inclined to sneer 
at any form of Idealism. A false notion on 
this subject, if permitted to find permanent 
lodgment in the public mind, is sure to poison 
public sentiment, and thus seriously impair 
our ability to appreciate or even to under- 
stand the noblest and best in American char- 
acter as displayed upon the pages of our 
history, hence it is best, that we proceed 
with the job of ' 'emptying the jug," in the 
interests of a healthy public sentiment. 

American Idealism 

If in all our history, there is any one fact 
concerning which we as Americans are per- 
fectly justified in indulging an extravagant 
pride, it certainly can be found in the 
splendid and noble Idealism from which our 
country was born, hence it behooves us as 
an intelligent people to very carefully inves- 
tigate the subject before we condemn. 

The imagination is the picture gallery of 



16 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

the human mind, wherein we set up our 
ideals as standards, to be used in the forma- 
tion of our opinions; it seems that standards 
— ideals — are absolutely indispensable to 
man in all his mental functions ; in business, 
he must have a standard yardstick, a stand- 
ard gallon, a standard pound and a standard 
dollar; likewise in politics, he must have a 
standard — ideal — of government, of man- 
hood, of citizenship, of justice, of honor, of 
patriotism; otherwise, he would soon become 
lost in the fogs of uncertainty and doubt. A 
faise ideal — standard — in politics, is as 
sure to lead to confusion, disaster and war, as 
a similar ideal — standard — in business 
leads to confusion, misunderstanding and 
litigation; hence the importance of true and 
healthy ideals in politics, as well as in all the 
other practical affairs of life becomes clearly 
apparent. 

American Idealism gave us our Declara- 
tion of Independence, which at the time it 
was written, was considered by other nations, 
as merely a patchwork of idle dreams, but 
the historical facts following it, clearly and 
fully demonstrated just what a nation of 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 17 

Idealists who are thoroughly in earnest, can 
do toward making their dreams come true. 
Facts are stubborn things, and will outlive any 
number of derisive sneers based on false 
premises. It will be a seriously sad day for 
us as a nation, when Americans lose their 
appreciation of the true nobleness of the 
spirit of Idealism from which our nation had 
its birth. 

American Idealism put the conquering 
spirit into our army at Saratoga Springs, and 
thus gave us the final victory in that decisive 
battle of that war ; it gave the American army 
at Valley Forge a general so unconquerable 
that he persistently hung on with bulldog 
tenacity until victory came at last; it gave 
that general an army which (under the most 
disheartening and desperate conditions) with 
an equally unconquerable spirit, persisted 
until, under his leadership, they finally 
wrested victory from an annihilation seem- 
ingly unavoidable; it gave us John Paul Jones, 
whose immortal answer to his enemy opponent 
who asked if he had "struck" his colors, will 
continue to shed lustre upon American pluck 
thru all the ages; and it gave us Nathan 



18 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Hale and Patrick Henry; but why continue 
to enumerate when the pages of the history 
of our birth is actually overcrowded with 
their names? 

Every person who has brains enough to 
furnish a home for an imagination, and has a 
capacity for "doing things", is an Idealist, 
no matter whether the things done be good 
or whether they be bad ; hence it is clear that 
there are two kinds of Idealists, (1) noble, 
(2) base, or ignoble, but the point I am par- 
ticularly anxious to emphasize is, that even 
those who sneer at Idealism, are themselves 
"idealists", and that the only question per- 
missible is, as to the class in which they prop- 
perly "belong". 

Assuming that the foregoing classification 
of Idealists is correct, it is clear that Wash- 
ington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Nathan 
Hale, John Paul Jones, each and every indi- 
vidual soldier of the Valley Forge army, and 
last but not least Abraham Lincoln, are each 
and all illustrious examples of the first class, 
while Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, "Boss" 
Tweed, each and every advocate of "steam 
roller" processes in our party politics (re- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 19 

gardless of the name of the party with which 
he affiliates), Lorimer, Ka ; ser Bill, and each 
and every one of his junker aids, are very 
prominent examples of the second class; 
from the foregoing it will be very clear to the 
reader that in the writer's opinion at least, 
we are not without our "junker" class, even 
here in America; any party politician who 
(by "steam roller", or by any other process 
or processes), over- rides, or even attempts 
to over-ride, the freedom of the individual, 
by setting aside or even attempting to set 
aside the expressed will of the common people, 
is at heart a junker and properly "belongs" 
in that class. 

Theory in Politics 

Even a junker has theories, opinions, 
ideals; any person who has no theories is 
necessarily a "bonehead", nevertheless, it is 
the fashion amongst our junker politicians to 
derisively sneer at "theory" in politics as 
"impractical, dreamy, visionary and delu- 
sive"; notwithstanding their sneers, however, 
anyone who will pause long enough to seri- 
ously ponder the subject, can readily see that 



20 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

the true relation of theory to conditions, is 
that of cause to effect ; if the theory operating 
as a cause, be sound and healthy (if wisely 
and intelligently applied) the conditions re- 
sulting therefrom are absolutely sure also to 
be sound and healthy, for "a good tree can- 
not bring forth evil fruit", and by the same 
token, if the theory operating as a cause, be 
rotten, the conditions following it are like- 
wise sure to be rotten — "neither can a cor- 
rupt tree bring forth good fruit". 

As threads running thru the web and woof 
of the politics of the world, there are just two 
main theories; (1) the Democratic, (2) the 
Aristocratic; these two theories are sworn 
enemies; they are as antagonistic and irre- 
concilable as love and hate, light and dark- 
ness; they are also irrepressible, no matter 
which is right the other must be wrong, and 
between them (so long as the latter attempts 
to dominate the former by mere brute force 
— always its last resort) there can be no 
peace; war must always follow any attempt 
to subordinate the formei to the latter. 

What we call civilization — mans progress 
from savagery upward to a higher and nobler 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 21 

state of existence — has simply been a series 
of experiments, thru which, by actual ex- 
perience, man has been "trying out", weigh- 
ing various and numerous theories with a 
view to securing real knowledge as to just 
what is best adapted to the healthiest, high- 
est, best, development of the individual, 
(society seeming to have at last realized, 
either consciously or subconsciously, that 
in its last analysis the real progress of society 
as a whole, must depend upon the right 
development of the individuals thereof). 

The history of the world seems to indi- 
cate that whenever a false theory once finds 
lodgment in the common imagination of the 
persons "in the saddle" as rulers, it dies very, 
very hard, usually refusing to yield up the 
ghost, until blood has been spilled ; once it has 
become entrenched, so to speak, thru a wide 
and general acceptance as truth, for a long 
period of time, it is certainly no small man's 
job to dislodge it; for instance, the absurd 
theory that "the king can do no wrong" (a 
phase of the Aristocratic theory) once found 
lodgment in the imagination of the ruling 
class in England during the lifetime of 



22 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Charles I, and his acceptance of that absur- 
dity as truth, coupled with his stubborn, even 
mulish, adherence thereto, finally brought his 
head and shoulders to the parting of the 
ways. 

Likewise, the same absurdity found a home 
in the imagination of the ruling class in 
France, and in due course of time, came the 
French Revolution, in which Louis XVI lost 
his head, and France was soaked with the 
lifeblood of many of the so-called aristocrats 
of that nation. 

Again, Kaiser Bill and his junker suppor- 
ters are at war with the whole world, in sup- 
port of the absurdity that "Germany can do 
no wrong", which the reader will recognize 
as the same old fallacy in a somewhat modi- 
fied form; verily, its hold on life is a strong 
one, seemingly as strong as the hold of the 
traditional cat. 

Last but not least in its importance to us 
as Americans, the doctrine that "the party 
can do no wrong", will be recognized by the 
reader as another form (slightly modified) of 
the same old absurdity, nevertheless, our 
junker class of party politicians have re- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 23 

peatedly tried to "steam roller" it down our 
political throats, even here in America; in 
spite of their repeated efforts along this line, 
we still are free — thanks to the innate wis- 
dom of our common people, and their ability 
to rise above party spirit whenever condi- 
tions seem to demand it — "you can't fool 
all the people, all the time" — ; they — our 
junkers — should have been ashamed to 
have tried to spring such an absurdity upon 
us, but "phules" and mules are unacquainted 
with the meaning of that word. Whether our 
junkers will acquire any wisdom from the past 
history of such attempts is still an open ques- 
tion which is up to them. 

Our common people have a theory that 
each elected representative, in each and every 
branch of the public service is a public ser- 
vant, not an Aristocratic boss, and the time 
may come when our Junkers will be brought 
suddenly to forcibly realize that this is no 
idle dream, but is an actual working theory, 
applying with equal force to those who man- 
age our party affairs; it has not arrived yet 
but it is on the way. The "yaller dog" theory 
has had its day. 



24 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Aristocrats 

Ours is a government by party — govern- 
ment by a class — hence, is an Aristocracy ; 
inasmuch as it is impossible to have an Aris- 
tocracy without aristocrats, it is well for 
Americans, each and all, to secure as clear 
and well-defined a conception of the general 
"make-up" of an Aristocrat, as is possible. 
That each individual, at birth, is an aristo- 
crat at heart, becomes clear when we recall 
the facts, that each and every one is born into 
a love of self and that the aristocratic spirit 
is merely a phase of self-love. Yes, at birth 
we each and all are aristocrats and (unfor- 
tunately for ourselves) some of us never rise 
above that spirit, mainly because we do not 
want to do so. 

In all religious matters, the "holier-than- 
thou", self-righteous spirit is universally 
recognized as an evil, to be struggled against 
and subdued, but the same identical spirit if 
re-christened "aristocratic" and used in social 
and political affairs, at once begins to "look 
good" to a large and (I deeply regret being 
forced to admit it) rapidly growing number of 
our body politic. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 25 

While it is true that at heart, we are all 
aristocrats, yet the high privilege is ours (if 
we are possessed of the right kind of "stuff") 
character, to become democrats, but — let 
it continually be borne in mind — not with- 
out a long-drawn-out struggle extending to 
the end of life ; a struggle calling for the high- 
est qualities of head and heart, sustained by 
a persistent, unconquerable will . 

"Again, the devil taketh him up into an 
exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him 
all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory 
of them; and saith unto him, All these things 
I will give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, 
get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou 
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
only shalt thou serve." (Matt. IV, 8, 9, 
and 10). 

In the foregoing paragraph, that interpre- 
tation which accepts "devil" in a symbolic 
sense as representing the evil of self-love, is 
believed by the writer, to be the true one. 
In this quotation, the writer wishes here and 
now to emphasize the fact that it is made, 
simply because of its strong bearing upon the 



26 "AMERICAN JUNKERS" 

development — growth — of that ideal of 
manhood which leads to a higher ideal of 
citizenship; religionists would say to you 
dear reader, "Get right with God, in order 
that you may inherit eternal life"; but my 
message to you is one of politics, not religion. 
I would say to you, "get right with yourself, 
with the noblest within you", in order that 
you may grow into that true nobility of 
character, as an individual, which, in the last 
analysis, is any nation's most valuable asset. 
"He that findeth his life shall lose it; and 
he that loseth his life for my sake shall find 
it." (Matt. X, 39); it is undoubtedly true 
that he who abandons his selfhood — self- 
love — for the sake of God's Truth, which in- 
cludes His Justice as embodied in the Golden 
Rule, is then in a position to develop — grow 
into a noble manhood and a "safe and sane" 
citizenship ; it is only recently, comparatively, 
that statesmen have begun to see that no 
nation can afford to permit false doctrine to 
be fed to the individual, thus poisoning public 
sentiment at its fountain-head. In the last 
above quotation, Jesus clearly lays down the 
natural law governing man's growth toward 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 27 

the light, a true nobility of manhood. Can 
we afford to ignore it? 

Self-love — selfhood — when properly 
guided and controlled, is a highly essential 
and valuable part of man's nature; it be- 
comes dangerous only when "off the track" 
and is unguided, uncontrolled; self-interest 
must and always should enter into our de- 
cisions bearing upon our conduct, but we are 
wholly in the dark, until it is made clear as 
to just what we mean by "self-interest" ; if by 
that we mean our own development, — 
growth — along the lines of our higher and 
better nature, then the above is absolutely 
correct; but if by "self-interest" we mean mer- 
cenary greed, or even self-exploitation, then 
grave doubts may arise. 

Self-worship is the very soul — life — of an 
aristocrat, and the most marked character- 
istic thereof rests in an imperious demand to 
be served; no person can hope to establish a 
claim of having developed a real and honestly 
true democratic spirit until he can show 
that he derives real pleasure in the service of 
others. There are other essentials — charac- 
teristics — necessary to be cultivated, but a 



28 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

development of a love of service is first and 
most important ; even that demonstrates that 
the job of substituting the democratic for the 
aristocratic spirit, will prove a struggle which 
may, probably will, last thru the natural life 
of most of us. 

Self -worship is perfectly natural, as natural 
as weeds, but that fact cannot be offered as a 
justification thereof; many things which are 
perfectly natural are, nevertheless, very an- 
tagonistic to a growth of the individual to- 
wards the light, towards higher and nobler 
things. 

There are many different varieties of aris- 
tocrats, distinguishable usually by the dif- 
ference in the grounds upon which the spirit 
thereof is based; some base it on the posses- 
sion of wealth, some on birth, some on beauty 
(mostly feminine) some on style — taste — in 
dress, some on social position, some on musi- 
cal talent and skill, some on business abilities, 
some on age, some on youth, and thus on and 
on, ad infinitum; we can safely leave it to 
each individual to hunt up his own particular 
ground upon which to base his personal no- 
tion of superiority, the writer once knew an 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 29 

entire family, which based its intellectual 
pride — aristocracy — upon its ability to 
evade payment of just debts. From the 
viewpoint of aristocrats, it may readily be 
presumed that a plump, juicy and fat maggot, 
which by persistent twisting, wriggling and 
squirming, at last reaches the top of the filthy 
mess of which he forms a part, is wholly jus- 
tified in the indulgence of a feeling of con- 
tempt — superiority — for those beneath, but 
the fact remains that he, in the last analysis 
is nothing but a maggot. Trust a fool — aristo- 
crat — to make an absurdity "look good". 

But the most incredibly absurd base of all, 
is that of an aristocracy of brains — intellect, — 
the "high-brow" variety; it is always safe to 
judge a fool by his folly. This variety is one 
of superiority — based on assumption — and 
forcibly calls to mind the quaint and homely 
philosophy of Josh Billings, "It is better not 
to no so mutch, than it iz to no so menny 
things that aint so." 

There are many of this variety in American 
politics, who with considerable swagger and 
a blatant manner, declare for "government 
by the best", all of which sounds "catchy", 



30 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

and is apt to be swallowed whole by those 
who are unaccustomed to thinking for them- 
selves. This blatant declaration is absolutely 
meaningless, until it is made perfectly clear 
as to just what is meant by "the best"; in- 
quiry will usually demonstrate that their 
conception of "the best" refers to that class 
whose claims to superiority rests wholly 
upon their knowledge of the shifty schemes, 
crafty tricks and subterfuges, most available 
for purposes of bamboozling — misleading — 
the common people; a fool and his folly are 
inseparable. 

Fools 

As a matter of fact, the subject of "fools" 
is merely a continuation of the subject of 
"aristocrats", but the writer believes that its 
importance calls for a separate treatment. 
There are two kinds or classes of fools; (1) 
the common ordinary garden variety, or 
"bonehead", (2) the "damphool"; the first 
kind, simply can't help it, hence, are entitled 
to our sympathy — not blame — ; but the 
second class is entitled to very little sym- 
pathy; endowed by nature with brains galore 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 31 

they become fools deliberately thru voluntary 
choice; with every opportunity for a healthy 
and natural growth towards the light — 
towards higher and nobler things — they un- 
dertake to grow in an unnatural way down- 
ward into the mud and mire; these people 
who try to demonstrate their superiority by 
making an effort to show themselves superior 
to nature's laws, do not need a placard to 
show just where they "belong" in the general 
exhibit. 

In making use of the term "Damphool", 
the writer desires to disclaim any spirit of 
profanity; the word d-a-m, is legitimately 
used to designate an obstruction across a 
stream to check or retard the flow of water 
therein. Damphools — intellectual aristocrats 
— who consecrate themselves to self-worship, 
certainly are obstructionists against the nor- 
mal growth in the right direction of a nation, 
state or community; besides, the word 
d-a-m-n, also has a legitimate use in express- 
ing condemnation, all of which adds force to 
the term "Damphool"; the writer is trying 
to deliver a message to the "common herd" 
(he being one of 'em) and he knows, beyond 



32 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

all doubt, that the class he wants to reach, 
values clarity and force much more than re- 
finement and elegance of literary diction; 
therefore, no effort has been made in the in- 
terests of the latter, nor does he offer any 
apologies. 

If we were to see some "smartie" trying to 
"show off", by standing on his head instead 
of his feet, we would naturally class him as a 
fool, and any persistent — long continued — 
attempt to thus reverse nature's established 
law, would finally end in a general verdict of 
"damphool". All aristocrats are fools, and 
the more brains and brilliancy they possess, 
the nearer is their approach to the "dam- 
phool" class. 

"Beware of the man whose head is above 
his conscience", is an old adage embodying 
the common experience of the human family, 
also nature's law governing man's true growth ; 
generally speaking, the writer has a very 
scant respect for man-made maxims, adages 
and "saws", but bows with reverence, to one 
embodying a natural law. 

This is a world of law, and bitter experi- 
ence has taught the writer the importance of 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 33 

obedience. Neither can a nation (I care 
not how great nor how powerful) afford to 
wink at any setting aside of the natural law 
governing the right development — growth 
— of the individual upwards towards the 
light, in favor of a downward growth into 
hoggish conditions, without (sooner or later) 
being called upon to pay the price. Of course 
Germany cannot see that she is "paying the 
price", but her blindness does not change the 
fact. "Whosoever committeth sin is the 
servant of sin." Hence Germany's blindness. 

Self-worship is the distinguishing charac- 
teristic of a "damphool" — aristocrat — 
while a worship of God's truth, and the prin- 
ciple of Justice, as embodied in the Golden 
Rule, is the distinguishing characteristic of 
any one who has really reached a develop- 
ment admissible as truly democratic; from 
the former to the latter, sure is a far cry call- 
ing for the development of a fighting spirit 
in the interest of a mastery of self. 

Self-worship leads man to try to walk in 
the phosphorescent light of self -derived intelli- 
gence, and to discard all idea of any divine 
influx from the spiritual world, hence it is 



34 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

not strange that he, morally, strives to stand 
on his head, contrary to the natural law gov- 
erning man's right development or growth. 

The phosphorescent light of self-derived in- 
telligence, is a sort of will-o-the-wisp which 
is frequently seen floating over the swamps 
of man's ignorance and self-idolatry, hence is 
wholly unreliable as a guide in anything call- 
ing for spiritual vision. The nonsensical ab- 
surdity of the "high-brow" — intellectual — 
notion of aristocracy is well illustrated in 
"German Kulture"; the intellectual develop- 
ment of Germany is above question, but the 
events of the recent past demonstrate be- 
yond all question that the world needs, and 
must have something better and higher, nobler 
than mere intellectual development. 

Mere intellectual development, until it has 
been tempered with human love and sympa- 
thy, produces men as inhumanly cold as an 
icicle. It may be brilliant as Aurora Borealis; 
and just as comfortless and cold. In this con- 
nection, it is well to recall the large number 
of men with brilliant intellects who are to be 
found behind prison bars. 

Nearly every community has its own par- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 35 

ticular specimen of a brainy and brilliant 
"damphool", hence when the name of Aaron 
Burr is mentioned, no further illustration of 
the class is needed. Nevertheless, it will not 
be at all amiss to mention the name of Senator 
Ingalls, who once voiced the sentiment, "The 
purification of politics is an iridescent dream". 

During the first 120 years of our national 
life, we seem voluntarily to have deliberately 
placed our offering of reverential homage 
upon the altar of brains — intellect. To 
have been able to say of any person that he, 
or she, was "smart", brainy or brilliant — in- 
tellectual — was, during that period, about 
as laudatory an introduction as it were possi- 
ble to bestow ; all of which would seem to in- 
dicate that as a people, we were inclined to 
truckle to the notion of a "high-brow" 
Aristocracy. 

Our brainy and brilliant damphools fre- 
quently voice an apparently witty and dazz- 
ling sentiment which is misleading and there- 
fore dangerous, simply because it is only a 
half-truth; it looks like truth, but is, never- 
theless, a lie; the above quotation from some 
of the scintillations of a brainy and brilliant 



36 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

fool well illustrates the point before us; the 
inference naturally and logically drawn from 
it is, that because it is an "iridescent dream", 
we ought to accept it as an established fact 
in our political life, and let it go at that. 

There never will come a time when there 
will be no violations of our criminal code, 
nevertheless, organized society goes right 
ahead trying to keep them within as narrow 
limits as is possible. Suppose the farmers of 
our country were to accept the doctrine em- 
bodied in the above quotation, as true, and 
quit fighting weeds merely because it is im- 
possible to kill all of them; if Mr. Ingalls 
came in person, preaching such absurd doc- 
trine he no doubt would soon become familiar 
with the word "damphool" — and then some. 

Pure Politics 

Anent the Ingalls' theory concerning the 
purification of politics, it is the suggestion 
embodied therein which is so damnably mis- 
leading ; it is well understood by all that there 
are degrees of political rottenness, therefore, 
the doctrine that (no matter how rotten our 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 37 

politics may be) we should accept it as some- 
thing beyond our power to remedy, must 
always be peculiarly obnoxious to every 
American who really and truly loves his 
country. 

It is a truth which it is impossible to em- 
phasize too strongly, that Democracy starts 
with the admission that pure politics — per- 
fect government — is absolutely unattain- 
able, so long as human nature remains as it is. 
The true glory of the Democratic theory, rests 
in the fact that it strives to make the chan- 
nels thru which public sentiment (the final 
arbiter in the decision of all public questions) 
flows, as unrestricted, free and responsive to 
changes in conditions, as are the channels of 
the ocean or the currents of the air. 

In other words, the Democratic ideal is 
that government should be made as promptly 
responsive to the will of the people as it is 
possible to do in order that our growth may 
continually be towards the light, towards 
higher and better things; by assuming and 
maintaining this attitude, we are continually 
approaching perfect government, even though 
we may never hope to really attain it; with 



38 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

us as the leading Democracy of the world, 
there still remains many unsolved problems, 
and during the first 129 years of our national 
life, we have made numerous mistakes, some 
of which are very serious and still uncorrected. 

As a people, we are spmewhat slow, but 
we finally will correct our mistakes when we 
become fully convinced that they really are 
mistakes, and we will solve all puzzling 
problems in our own way; it must never be 
forgotten that, comparatively speaking, we 
are very young yet and that youngsters get 
many bumps and bruises in learning how to 
walk. 

"Beware of false prophets, which come to 
you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they 
are ravening wolves." (Matt. VII, 15.) 

"Ye shall know them by their fruit." 
(Matt. VII, 16.) 

The above quotations apply with as much 
force to many of our political reformers, as 
to our junker politicians, for the reason that, 
usually, both have "axes to grind", and both 
are trying to bamboozle — mislead — the people ; 
as a people we, very slowly, are learning to 
distinguish between real patriotism and its 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 39 

counterfeit, between true doctrine, and its 
opposite. 

The writer still retains sufficient confidence 
in human nature to believe that there may, 
occasionally, be an honest and sincere politi- 
cal reformer who, particularly strives to pro- 
mote the public good; but such must expect 
to meet much of skepticism ; in fact, he must 
expect to be, usually, met in the "show me" 
spirit by the people at large ; neither can they 
justly be blamed for assuming that attitude. 

It is impossible to distinguish true doctrine 
from the false until it has been applied in 
actual life, but that test is infallible, "Ye 
shall know them by their fruit"; also, "If 
any man will do his will, he shall know of the 
doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I 
speak of myself". (John VII, 17). 

The truth of all doctrine — theory — can in- 
variably be tested by the application of this 
rule; when applied to the every-day life, any 
doctrine — theory — which produces nobler men 
and women — better citizens — is true, and 
should received our hearty support regard- 
less of its effects upon some political organiza- 
tion. 



40 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Individualism 

The subject of Individualism is co-exten- 
sive with the history of man, nevertheless, 
the conception thereof existing in the public 
mind, seems to be a somewhat foggy one. 
There has been more or less friction or clash 
between the individual and organized society 
from the start; this friction or clash, grew 
very naturally, out of a tendency, amounting 
to an effort, on the part of organized society, 
to reduce all individuals, thru its conven- 
tionalities, to a condition of slavish uniform- 
ity (like peas in a pod, so to speak). 

The conviction is rapidly growing in the 
public mind, that each individual is some- 
what different from all other individuals, 
hence, that any cast-iron — arbitrary — rule-of- 
thumb method of developing the individual, 
must in many instances prove very unsatis- 
factory; this feeling, no doubt, has to a 
greater or less extent, existed from the start, 
hence the clash. 

Organized society, of course, always stood 
for the established order of things — for "what 
is"— conventionalism, while die individual, 
naturally, stood for the idealistic side of life, 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 41 

for "what should be"; in other words, the 
organized body is conservative — Aristocratic 
— in its natural trend ; as a matter of fact, is 
afraid of changes and is, retrogressive, or at 
least, is unprogressive, while the trend of the 
individual is towards the radical side of life, 
towards the higher and better things thereof, 
freedom, independence, broader opportunity 
for the growth or development of the indivi- 
dual — progress. Organized society is op- 
posed to "taking chances", and represents 
the laissez faire, "let alone" theory of life; 
the individual, however, is venturesome and 
stands ready to "try out" new ideas. 

Most Americans accept the theory that 
each individual should be permitted to live 
his own life without interference, so long as 
he does not trample on the rights of other 
individuals, nor interfere with the general 
welfare; at any rate, if this theory is not a 
sound and healthy one, we are in a fair way 
to find out just what is the matter with it. 

In studying the subject, we should not 
overlook the fact, that there exists in the 
public mind two very antagonistic conceptions 
thereof, that is to say; First: 



42 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

The ANCIENT, which considers the in- 
dividual in his savage state, forced by the 
law of self-preservation, to fight for his life 
and for a place upon the face of the earth — 
a state, in fact, of continuous war — ; the con- 
ditions out of which this conception grew, 
very naturally led to a general acceptance as 
true, of the godless rule of "might makes 
right", or the equally godless one of the 
"survival of the fittest". Second: 

The MODERN, which has grown up since 
the Advent of Jesus Christ, and which is 
gradually, supplanting the old with a more 
humane doctrine, viz: the doctrine of Jus- 
tice, as embodied in the Golden Rule; in its 
general recognition and acceptance as true, 
this doctrine is, comparatively, young yet, 
but is sure to cut a large figure in the future 
history of the world. 

In fact, as this is being written, the strong 
grip it has secured upon the imagination and 
heart of the world at large, is being demon- 
strated in a baptism of blood upon the battle- 
fields of Europe. At the present moment 
Germany is shedding her very best blood for 
the continued life of the former, while the 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 43 

very best blood of the Allies is being just as 
freely sacrificed and consecrated to the task of 
substituting the latter therefor. If Germany 
wins (which she won't) her Aristocrats — 
junkers — will secure a new lease of life, and 
civilization will have been set back two thou- 
sand years, at least; but if the Allies win 
(which they will) the Reign of Jesus Christ — 
THE WORLD'S GREATEST DEMOCRAT 
— can be said really and truly to have com- 
menced. 

Brushing aside all quibbles over the theol- 
ogy (man-made doctrine) growing out of the 
Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, un- 
biased students thereof can readily see that 
said teachings have as important and strong 
a bearing upon politics — government — as 
upon religion (the church). He particularly 
emphasized the dignity and importance of the 
individual in the world's work, and also spe- 
cially emphasized the peculiar danger menac- 
ing the individual who permits himself 
simply "to follow the crowd" in the forma- 
tion of his opinions. 

Viewed from the standpoint of the student 
of politics, His message seems one of one 



44 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

individual to another, a sort of heart-to-heart 
talk from one possessing superior knowledge, 
to his brother of just average information, 
concerning the natural laws governing the 
development — growth — of all individuals. 
Stripped of the camouflage cast over it by 
theology — man-made conventionalism — it 
seems wonderfully plain and clear, as well as 
singularly attractive because of its simplicity, 
in this connection, it is well to bear in 
mind that he invariably taught as an indivi- 
dual, and never as the representative of any 
organized body, either religious or political. 

"Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is 
the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth 
to destruction, and many there be which go in 
thereat." (14) "How straight is the gate, and 
narrow the way which leadeth unto life, and 
few there be that find it." (Matt. VII, 13 
and 14). 

The above quotation, simply emphasizes 
the natural law governing one phase of the 
development — growth — of any individual — 
a law that politicians and rulers disregard at 
their peril; of course Charles I, Louis XVI, 
George III, Penrose and Co., as well as 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 45 

Kaiser Bill, each in his own time, turn and 
way, have or will have paid the penalty for 
their presumption. Whether democratic poli- 
ticians will profit from the lessons taught by 
history, is still an open question, which is up 
to them. 

Nature has placed the responsibility upon 
each individual, of thinking for himself, and 
a failure to assume this responsibility — dis- 
charge his duty — is followed by one result 
only, viz : an atrophy — destruction — of 
his capacity to "stand alone" intellectually. 
If he once acquires the habit of taking his 
opinions at second hand, he soon becomes a 
species of sheep which "follows the bunch" 
even over the cliff to death, i.e., a stunted 
development. Much more of His Message 
might be cited in support of the above sug- 
gestion that His Message had as strong and 
important a bearing upon politics as upon 
religion, but the above is sufficient to illus- 
trate the truth of said suggestion. 

Just as theology and self-righteous sectari- 
anism have been the curse of religion, so like- 
wise, has partyism and Aristocracy operated as 
a curse upon the Cause of Democracy ; bringing 



46 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

the matter right home to us as Americans; 
our junker aristocrats are so fed-up with the 
notion that our common people are incapable 
of thinking for themselves, that they try to 
take away all opportunity for thinking, by 
trying to convince the individual that it is 
"safer and saner" to let "the party" do his 
thinking for him, all of which leads up to 
"vote the party ticket", and vote it 
"straight". 

It is undoubtedly true, that no chain as a 
whole, is stronger than its weakest link, hence 
the shortest way of strengthening the chain 
is to cut out that link; the undoubted trend 
of our party system of administering our 
democratic constitution is continually to- 
wards a strangulation — destruction — not 
only of the individual's capacity, but also of 
his opportunity to think from the standpoint 
of the general welfare. This is very undemo- 
cratic, and the sooner we rise above it (get 
a better system with which to operate our 
constitution) the stronger will become our 
democratic chain. 

Viewed from a political standpoint, the 
value or importance to us as American citi- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 47 

zens, of a clear and well-defined conception 
of Individualism, rests upon three facts, to wit : 

First: 

That the framers of our Constitution, 
therein set up the individual as the unit of 
our political life. 

Second : 

That they tried to create a government by 
and thru majorities of said units. 

Third: 

That they, therefore, attempted to es- 
tablish public sentiment as the final arbiter 
in the decision of all public questions, thus 
creating what Mr. Lincoln so aptly described 
as a government "of the people, by the people, 
for the people". 

It is clear, therefore, that the health of 
public sentiment hangs upon a single peg, 
the soundness of the ideals existing in the 
minds of a majority of the individuals com- 
posing the organized body. A moment's 
consideration will also make it clear that the 
principle applies with equal force to a village, 
a township, a county, city, a state, a nation, 
a political party, or to a church. 



48 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

The law of health is invariably the same. 
We cannot feed false theories of government 
to the individual, without lowering his ideals 
of honor, of manhood, of citizenship and of 
patriotism, thus, eventually, sowing the seed 
for a diseased public sentiment, which must, 
finally, end in serious sickness — political 
trouble. 

Assuming that Democracy is government 
by majorities of legally qualified individuals 
or units, thru a public sentiment legitimately 
expressed, it is perfectly clear, that, in theory 
at least, we are undoubtedly a Democratic 
nation ; but (I seriously and deeply regret the 
existing necessity of writing that "but") the 
important question is, can we demonstrate 
that we "practice as we preach?" 

Our Constitution (thanks to the clear- 
visioned wisdom of the noble band of patriots 
who framed it) is undoubtedly Democratic, 
but are we not awkwardly trying to make it 
work by and thru an undemocratic system? 
It is by the answer to this question, truth- 
fully given, that we must expect to be judged 
by outsiders ; if we have been bunglingly try- 
ing to operate our Democratic Constitution 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 49 

by and thru an Aristocratic system, we fall 
just that far short of being truly Democratic. 

To undertake hypocritically to live half 
democratic and half aristocratic is as ab- 
surdly silly as to try to live "half slave, and 
half free"; at any rate, if we are only half 
Democratic, the sooner we recognize and 
admit that fact, the sooner we can begin to 
indulge a hope for an improvement of condi- 
tions. 

For the purpose of emphasizing the fact, I 
desire to reiterate, that it would be absurdly 
unreasonable to suppose that we could possi- 
bly live 129 years of intense and active 
national life, without having made numerous 
mistakes. 

In this connection it is well to remember, 
that Democracy lays no claims to perfection; 
it frankly admits the imperfections — weak- 
nesses — incidental to human nature, and asks 
nothing but a fair chance to grow towards 
the light — toward higher and better things ; 
It does not even hope for perfection, never- 
theless, it demands an opportunity to keep 
up an effort to improve — grow; as a nation 
we have made mistakes a plenty, but we 



50 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

can be safely trusted to correct them, when 
the right time comes; as a people, Americans 
are sometimes slow, but their heart is in the 
right place, and we can safely rely on the 
wisdom of their final decision; "you can't 
fool all the people, all the time"; sooner or 
later they are sure to get "next" to all your 
sophistries. 

Our Great Mistake 

No deception is as hard to understand as 
self-deception; the individual who deliber- 
ately deceives — betrays — himself is certainly 
enough of a puzzle; but when a whole nation 
(intelligent and wise in most other respects) 
deliberately deceives — betrays — itself in one 
of the most vital phases of its life, the puzzle 
becomes a deep mystery which not only 
deepens but also thickens in the presence of 
the fact that this self-deception has been 
under way nearly 130 years. 

To an unbiased observer, it certainly would 
appear that such a nation would be unable to 
dodge a plea of "guilty" to a charge of 
"damphool", or at least to the minor charge 
of "bonehead". 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 51 

For nearly 130 years we have been and 
still are indulging the notion that we are 
truly Democratic, not only in theory but also 
in practice. "Spreadeagle", claptrap orators, 
and our junker politicians have persistently 
' 'jollied" and confirmed us in that notion, 
until we have complacently and idiotically 
gulped it down, and now conceitedly accept 
is as undeniably true. 

Until this fallacy is emptied out of the 
public "jug" — mind — any presentation of 
the real truth would merely be "casting 
pearls before swine" — a clear waste of time. 

Yes, the writer is well aware that it takes 
"gall" a plenty, for one of the so-called "com- 
mon herd" to undertake to spank a great 
nation, but that does not change the fact 
that the spanking is needed, and is long past 
due, therefore, he refuses to offer any 
apology. 

That we are Democratic in theory is be- 
yond all doubt, but that does not get us very 
far; the important question is, what are we 
in practice? The crux of the whole problem 
is wrapped up in the correct answer to that 
question; try as we may we cannot juggle 



52 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

ourselves around the fact, that ours is a gov- 
ernment by party — government by a class — 
an Aristocracy. The two theories — the Dem- 
ocratic, and the Aristocratic — which we are 
so idiotically trying to harmonize, are as an- 
tagonistic as heaven and hell, as love and 
hate, as light and darkness, and cannot any 
more successfully be made to mix than can 
oil and water; no matter which is right, the 
other must be wrong. One is born of a con- 
fidence and trust in the final decisions of the 
common people; the other draws its inspira- 
tion and life from a distrust thereof. 

Whenever a blessing is bestowed on man, 
he almost invariably seems to want to hunt 
up some method of turning it into a curse; 
all of which is well illustrated in our history 
since the adoption of our Constitution; it 
was a magnificent heritage, magnanimously 
bestowed upon us as a birthright — a generous 
and free gift — deliberately handed down to 
us, by long-vision ed, wise and patriotic men 
(who attached no conditions thereto, except 
an implied one to preserve it intact and trans- 
mit it unimpaired to succeeding generations) 
nevertheless, scarcely had it been given us, 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 53 

when traitorous Americans (whether with 
malice aforethought can never be positively 
known) started surreptitious and insidious 
forces well calculated to basely subvert — 
overturn — it. 

Rotten conditions inevitably and very nat- 
turally developed out of this fat-headed at- 
tempt to apply the principles of love, truth 
and justice, by and thru a system based on 
falsity, conceit and hate; that it still survives 
in spite of all this rottenness, is a wonder- 
fully impressive tribute, not only to the far- 
reaching wisdom of the men who framed it, 
but also to the innate "genius of the Ameri- 
can people for self-government". 

By the way, does anybody know the exact 
present meaning of "the genius of the Amer- 
ican people for self-government"? At one 
time, it probably meant the ability of our 
people to establish law and order in place of 
political chaos — anarchy — but at the pres- 
ent time does it not more happily express the 
ability of our people, in the interests of the 
general welfare, to rise above party spirit? 

The history of the base-born thing which 
we have so foolishly striven to utilize in 



54 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

operating our Constitution, will exhibit ex- 
tenuating circumstances, tending to excuse us 
as a people, for having so long submitted to 
this fat-headed attempt to saddle an Aristo- 
cratic government upon us. 

Do We Properly Appreciate Our Constitution? 

In spite of the rottenness of the conditions 
which have grown out of the so-called "prac- 
tical" (?) junker system thru which we have 
bunglingly striven to make it work, we under 
our Constitution have continued at least to 
develop "the genius of the American people 
for self-government", at a time when we were 
very rapidly spreading out — growing — and 
at the same time assimilating an immense im- 
migration of the proletariat of all nations; 
all of which would seem to indicate that a 
Constitution founded on the principles of 
Truth and Justice is not a "rope of sand", by 
any means. Do we properly appreciate our 
Constitution? 

The facts seem to indicate that instead of 
appreciating it, we have deliberately bartered 
it for the rottenest kind of a mess of pottage ; 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 55 

if we rightly appreciated it, would we not at 
the earliest possible moment, throw the rotten 
junker system thru which we have, like idiots, 
been awkwardly trying to operate it, into the 
discard ? 

Nearly 130 years of bungling effort by a 
nation (generally quick to perceive the up- 
ward or the downward trend of anything 
presented for its use) to administer a Demo- 
cratic Constitution by and thru an Aristo- 
cratic junker system. It certainly must be 
admitted that our people have been not only 
patient, but also persistent in their "tryout" 
of the system, and we should, by this time, 
know beyond all doubt, whether there is any- 
thing in it which contributes or even tends to 
contribute to the general good. 

One fact stands out as prominently as a 
sore thumb, to wit: under it we have become a 
government "of the politicians, by the politi- 
cians, for the politicians." This fact alone 
should conclude all argument as to our lack 
of appreciation, but let each and every loyal 
American citizen ask himself this question, 
viz.: has it not invariably, as a system, 
"worked" in the interests of a rotten bunch of 



56 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

political crooks, pirates, buccaneers — human 
hogs — junkers, devoid of moral scruples — 
without patriotism, except a mercenary and 
blind devotion to "the party" — without soul, 
except greed — even without guts (human 
sympathies), except for plunder? There- 
fore is it not high time for us to carefully in- 
vestigate and weigh it with a view to ascer- 
taining as to whether it is, or is not, adapted 
to our essential needs for a promotion of the 
public good — general welfare? 

At the time our Constitution was in process 
of being built, had political parties been as 
they now are — machines to be used in party 
warfare for the capturing of "spoils" of office 
and "graft" — no doubt some provision for a 
check upon them would have been inserted 
in the Constitution itself; but at that time 
they were comparatively innocent and harm- 
less factors in the political life of that genera- 
tion; they were merely associations of indivi- 
duals holding similiar views upon public 
questions; leadership usually went to those 
whose known patriotism and broad, com- 
prehensive grasp and understanding of public 
affairs, well fitted them to lead public opinion ; 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 57 

their main object seems to have been publicity 
— discussion — education ; at that time public 
questions were discussed from the stand- 
point of the public good with a view to ar- 
riving at an intelligent, wise and patriotic 
decision of whatever question was up for con- 
sideration, all of which harmonized perfectly, 
with the spirit as well as the letter of the 
Constitution as adopted. 

In his Farewell Address Washington left 
some very timely and wise suggestions, con- 
cerning the dangers of an excess of party 
spirit; he certainly says enough therein, to 
indicate that the dangers lurking in a mis- 
guided, excessive spirit of party were clearly 
seen by him even at that time. 



Rise of Our Present System 

Soon after the adoption of our Constitu- 
tion, Aaron Burr, always a brainy and brilli- 
ant damphool, and at heart a traitor (not 
only to his country, but also to the higher 
and better part of his own nature) clearly 
saw that by combining the fundamental prin- 
ciples of Feudalism with the already existing 



58 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

party spirit, a political machine could be 
built up, well adapted to the end he had in 
view — the advancement of his own selfish 
ambitions — and at once proceeded to put 
his theory into operation. 

Feudalism was "in flower" during the Dark 
Ages, and at that particular time, was well 
adapted to aid in the advancement of civili- 
zation; it was based on the fundamental 
theory of war and conquest, hence was mili- 
tary in its character; its most important 
phase was a distribution of lands to subal- 
terns of the Lord Paramount — usually the 
king; for this distribution of lands, Burr 
substituted a distribution of offices, jobs; he 
was his own Lord Paramount — "king bee" 
— of his machine and he established graded 
ranks of his subalterns, to agree with the gra- 
dations of rank under the old system; he re- 
tained the military character of the old sys- 
tem, in his new machine, and insisted that 
the voters at elections were to be managed 
"by the same rule of discipline as the soldiers 
of an army; the few were to think for the 
masses, and the latter were to obey implicitly 
their leaders"; it is very clear that under 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 59 

Burr's plan the common voter was merely 
the "vassal" of the old system. 

It will be noted that under Burr's plan, 
the individual (set up by our Constitution, 
as the unit of our political life) was to be 
completely merged in the organization — 
machine — and was to be wholly eliminated 
from participation in political affairs, except 
as a member of the organization, and in 
blind obedience to those in control thereof; 
strange to say, the Democratic Party, which 
up to that time had seemingly been a party of 
high ideals (the party of "personal liberty" 
— the party of Jefferson — in support of 
whose ideals the colonists had but recently 
fought and won a war which gave us a place 
in the political sun) very promptly and basely 
surrendered to Burr's traitorous plan, which 
of course necessitated its acceptance by its 
party opponents in that state — New York — 
and at once it began its work of dragging 
down the politics of the entire state, to a hog 
level. 

In January 1832, senator Marcy of New 
York, speaking in the U. S. Senate in defense 
of the New York theory of politics, very 



60 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

unfortunately (for succeeding generations) 
voiced the battle-cry of piracy "to the victor 
belongs the spoils." This "catchy" slogan 
of an outlaw warfare, appealed so strongly to 
the politicians — "bosses" — of all parties, 
that it at once became a campaign slogan, 
dominating all parties, and steadily aided 
Burr's feudalistic scheme to debauch — 
poison — betray, public sentiment at its foun- 
tain-head, from that time to the present. 

No matter how well adapted to the warfare 
of pirates and buccaneers, Marcy's sentiment 
can never become a safe basis for the politics 
of a great nation, striving to live up to high 
ideals of honor, of justice, of manhood, of 
citizenship or even of patriotism. 

Thus was born the Burr-Marcy bastard 
system of administering a model Democratic 
Constitution, for which system we like a 
bunch of fat-headed imbeciles, have delib- 
erately sold our birthright. Where in Ger- 
many, or even in hell, can anything be found 
more undemocratic, more unamerican? At 
a single traitorous stroke it wiped out all the 
noble Idealism, which thru bloody war, pri- 
vation and suffering, had sacrificed every- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 61 

thing in the interests of freedom — our free- 
dom — of coming generations, all to be thus 
sacrificed upon the altar of a bastard — Aris- 
tocratic — god. Never again should Ameri- 
cans indulge a sneer at the ancient Jews for 
their return to a worship of the golden calf. 



Our Bastard System 

Yes, bastard! Political parties, as now 
constituted are unrecognized in our Consti- 
tution, hence, as thus constituted, are the il- 
legitimate offspring of an unauthorized union 
of Feudalism and Piracy, hence, a bastard. 
First conceived in the brain of a traitor, it 
received its breath of life thru the spirit of 
piracy, and has ever since been carefully nur- 
tured and supported by the base — ignoble — 
junker class of politicians from that time to 
the present. Viewed from the standpoint of 
said junker class, it has grown into the ap- 
pearance of a political god, which they seem 
to want to place upon a pedestal, for us to 
blindly worship ; will we do it? 



62 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

A Comparison 

German junkers assume that the common 
people are simply children, from whom noth- 
ing is expected or required except blind and 
prompt obedience (under compulsion, if 
necessary). American junkers indulge the 
same notion, but claim that compulsion is 
wholly unnecessary; as a matter of fact is 
"old stuff", not at present used any more by 
"up-to-date" politicians; that it is easier to 
bamboozle, than to force them, the same ends 
being more easily and surely reached thru 
deceit, subterfuge and fraud. 

German junkers assume that the common 
people, individually, is each born "with a 
saddle on his back", and that they — the said 
junkers — are born with a "divine right to 
ride therein". American junkers assume the 
same thing, and how they do ride us; occa- 
sionally we do wake up long enough to change 
parties, and then immediately go to sleep again; 
when we next awaken, it is to a full realiza- 
tion of the fact that, to us, it makes little 
difference which party is "in the saddle", in- 
asmuch as we always "get the worst of it". 

German junkers accept as true, the rule 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 63 

that "might makes right", and their working 
formula is, "the people be d d". Ameri- 
can junkers accept as true, the rule that 
"anything is fair in a political campaign", 
and work to the formula "let the steam roller 
do its work". 

German junkers provide rulers thru hered- 
itary descent; American junkers provide 
rulers by and thru a craftily devised process 
which carefully and successfully eliminates 
"the best" from party leadership, and just as 
carefully and successfully elevates its own 
minions — tools — into the "party saddle". 
Yes, it certainly is "some system"; can you 
beat it outside of Germany or hell? 

Its Record 

"By their fruits shall ye know them." Be- 
ginning with the Tweed Ring scandal, expo- 
sure after exposure followed, hence it would be 
not only a laborious, but also a filthy task, to 
undertake to furnish a complete list of the 
rotten phases or conditions naturally and logi- 
cally growing out of this hell-born bastard 
system; merely touching the high places, we 



64 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

have : Credit Mobilier, involving a Vice-Presi- 
dent; Post Traderships, involving a Secretary 
of War; The Whiskey Ring, involving — the 
Lord only knows whom ; Star Routes, involv- 
ing a Secretary of State ; Rotten Canned Beef 
for our soldiers on the firing line, involving 
another Secretary of War ; besides all this we 
have had "the Bar'l"; "blocks of five"; "slush 
funds", galore; the Congressional "pork 
barrel", which seems to have become a per- 
manent fixture; we have had "jack-pot" poli- 
tics and bi-partisan agreements, and an all- 
pervading spirit of "graft" which completely 
saturates, not only our local politics, but the 
politics of state and nation as well. 

And this is the ill-conceived, base-born 
thing the politicians have set upon a pedestal 
with the demand (supported by numerous 
"steam roller" processes) that we blindly 
worship it; will we? This book is the writer's 
answer, as an individual, to that question; 
the reader is free to answer in his own way. 

Every good thing in life is capable of being 
abused — misused — and political parties are 
no exception to this rule: whenever a politi- 
cal organization is so unfortunate as to fall 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 65 

under the domination of a rotten bunch of 
unscrupulous pirates and buccaneers, who 
wholly ignore the general welfare in the in- 
terests of organized predatory greed, that or- 
ganization — no matter what its name — 
easily may become a menace to democratic 
government; under such conditions, a deca- 
dence of the spirit of patriotism is inevitable. 

As a matter of fact, nature has established 
an irrepressible conflict — antagonism — be- 
tween real patriotism — genuine love of coun- 
try — and party ism of the Burr-Marcy- Junker 
bastard kind. In their nature, they are so 
antagonistic, that they will not mix, in this 
respect resembling heat and cold, the pres- 
ence of either indicating the absence of the 
other; in their fluctuations, they always move 
in opposite directions, very much as do the 
"teeters" of school children; no matter which 
end is up, the other end necessarily, must be 
down; consequently, we cannot exercise too 
great a care in deciding which we prefer to 
foster and cultivate in ourselves. 

The conditions of human life are such that 
a certain amount of gall — effrontery — impu- 
dence, is a positive necessity, but the gigantic 



66 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

gall of our junker class in its efforts to hoist 
this Burr-Marcy- Junker bastard scheme for 
bamboozling, misleading, our common people, 
upon a pedestal, with a hope that we — the 
"common herd" — can be forced, thru a fear 
of the "steam roller", or cajoled thru hopes 
of future party favors, to prostrate ourselves 
in a blind worship thereof, is certainly amaz- 
ing in its enormity; nevertheless, it is a fact 
cutting no small figure in our every-day poli- 
tical life. 

It is earnestly hoped by the writer, that in 
the foregoing (taken as a whole) he has made 
it sufficiently clear, that he has no quarrel 
with partyism, per se, but that his kick is 
against the abuse thereof — against party 
idolatry — against this Burr-Marcy- Junker 
bastard, which our junker politicians seem to 
want to elevate, as a sort of idol, for pur- 
poses of political worship; and under which 
they would, if it were possible, reduce the in- 
dividual in our politics to a species of feuda- 
lists vassalage, whose only function in our 
political life then would be, to vote the party 
ticket and vote it straight. 

This spurious political god was conceived 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 67 

in the brain of a traitor (who escaped con- 
viction for treason, only thru the leniency of 
our government against which he plotted). 
In it is united the soul of Feudalism, with 
the spirit of Piracy, and from this illicit union 
sprung this bastard. It was fastened upon 
us in so surreptitious, insidious and traito- 
rous a way, that at the time the deed was 
done the common people had no clear con- 
ception, either of the gravity or even of the 
nature of the occurrence. All of which well 
illustrates the fact, that in selecting leaders 
it is well to look for more than brains and 
brilliancy. It is gradually beginning to dawn 
upon us as a people, that a man may possess 
both of these and still be a damphool. 

Real patriotism — genuine love of country 
— should constitute just as prominent, just as 
important a part in the life of a party, as in 
the political life of an individual. The soul 
of patriotism is wrapped up in Mr. Bentham's 
utilitarian doctrine of "the greatest good, to 
the greatest number", and its highest ex- 
pression rests in the principles of consecra- 
tion and service. A political party conse- 
crated to the service of the general welfare is 



68 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

as truly patriotic as is any army battling in 
the cause of humanity; ergo, it naturally fol- 
lows, that such an organization, sailing the 
political seas merely for private gain, is a 
pirate and should be dealt with as such. 

Whenever a political organization falls 
under the control — domination — of an un- 
scrupulous bunch of political pirates and buc- 
caneers, who ignore the general welfare in the 
interests of private gain, it certainly is up 
against the real thing — misfortune — and is 
fully entitled to our sympathy rather than 
to our blame, until — mark well the restric- 
tion — until the organization as such, begins to 
justify — confirm — the predatory acts of said 
bunch, as right. At that point all sympathy 
should end. 

Inasmuch as we as a nation are giving the 
system of government by parties a "try out", 
it behooves us to carefully consider every 
phase of the subject, both pro and con, with 
a view to arriving at a wise and patriotic de- 
cision in the matter ; sooner or later — maybe 
sooner, maybe later — such a decision must 
of necessity be made, therefore, we cannot 
begin too early to investigate. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 69 

The true functions — the highest duties — 
of a political party, are of an educative nature 
also involving the idea of leadership, and an 
aspiration to patriotically and wisely lead 
public sentiment upward toward (with us) a 
higher conception of democracy, rather than 
downward toward aristocratic notions; of 
course, we should not overlook the fact, that 
human nature is simply human nature, and 
that human nature being as it is, no such thing 
as a perfect party ever has existed, or ever will 
exist ; nevertheless, it is up to the party — any 
party — to choose wisely as to the direction 
in which it prefers to grow; if it deliberately 
elects to grow downward instead of upward, 
it voluntarily betrays itself, and is headed in 
the right direction to betray its country 
whenever a favorable time and opportunity 
presents itself. 

We secure our sense of the relative value — 
importance — of things, including ideas, by 
comparison; this makes ideals — standards — 
indispensable; it follows, therefore, that we 
need clear and definite ideals as to what poli- 
tical parties should be; by comparing our 
two leading parties with the above suggested 



70 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

ideal, it at once becomes clear that no politi- 
cal party is qualified to lead public sentiment 
after it has betrayed itself by consenting to 
become a mere job-getting machine. 

In navigating the high seas, mariners with- 
out a compass soon lose all sense of direction. 
Likewise political parties without high ideals — 
a high sense of Right (for the sake of Right), 
of Truth (for the sake of Truth), and of Jus- 
tice (for the sake of Justice), soon lose all 
sense of direction, and are just as apt to lead 
public sentiment downward as upward. 

Of course, a mariner is free, if he thus 
chooses, deliberately to abandon his use of a 
compass, but such an abandonment certainly 
would be extremely idiotic, and would injure 
no one so much as the mariner himself; the 
same rule applies to political parties; if they 
deliberately abandon their high ideals — com- 
pass — the peril is theirs. 

The Democratic party, abandoning all its 
high ideals of Democracy, finally assumed a 
position upon the question of slavery, which 
could not be justified upon any truly demo- 
cratic grounds, except upon the theory that 
the negro was not a human being; the result 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 71 

was our Civil War, and, that for forty years 
(or thereabouts) that party was a political 
derelict drifting around upon the political 
high seas without compass or even rudder; 
even yet its main strength, before the com- 
mon people, seems to rest principally upon 
the weakness of its party opponent. Whether 
it ever will wake up to the fact that whenever 
a political party abandons its compass — 
high ideals of Right, Truth, Justice — it 
does so at its own peril, is a question time 
alone can answer; but so far as the party is 
concerned, a wise decision of that question 
is vitally more important to the party itself, 
than to anything or anybody else. 

And finally the Republican party became 
so "cockie" as to indulge the notion that it 
could sail our political sea without its com- 
pass, and in 1912, attempted to "steam 
roller" the doctrine down the throats of its 
rank and file, that "the party can do no 
wrong". Evidently both these parties have 
the same lesson to learn, viz.: that the closer 
a political organization steers its course by the 
old established standard — Right, Truth and 
Justice — the Divine Trinity — the stronger 



72 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

does it become with the "common herd", but 
that is a very difficult lesson for a junker to 
learn. 

Kaiser Bill had a terrible time learning it; 
likewise Charles I of England ; also George III ; 
Wrong, Falsity and Injustice, invariably 
are a source of weakness, not strength; 
but when will politicians wake up to that 
fact? 

Nature has established a law, thru the oper- 
ation of which, the results secured thru any 
system of government by parties must in the 
end prove unsatisfactory; no matter how 
high and noble may have been the principles, 
theories and ideals, thru the advocacy and 
support of which success was attained, this 
law will govern just the same. 

Whenever a success is finally reached, 
which gives fair promise of becoming reason- 
ably permanent, the party immediately be- 
gins to "look good", to every pirate and 
buccaneer — spoilsman — to every individual 
having an ax to grind, and immediately these 
pirates — freebooters — begin to flock into this 
new party, until their numbers enable them 
to control the organization; when that time 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 73 

comes, the men who fought the battles which 
made the party successful, must take a back 
seat, unless they consent to become tools of 
this rotten bunch. 

The Democratic Party (originally called 
Republican) at first was a party of high ideals 
and was dominated by a spirit of genuine pa- 
triotism, but finally permitted Burr to set up 
his feudalistic machine within the party; that 
machine must have looked extremely good to 
all spoilsmen, and when Senator Marcy put 
the steam of a pirate spirit into it, it must 
have looked still better; therefore, it is not 
strange that the entire slave-owning class 
(whose every opinion was tinged by a mer- 
cenary self-interest) flocked into it, and 
finally dominated it so completely, as to force 
the party to assume a position upon the 
question of slavery, that it was impossible to 
justify upon any truly democratic grounds, 
except upon the theory that a negro is not a 
human being; this divided the party to such 
an extent as to make Mr. Lincoln's election 
possible, hence our Civil War. 

The Republican Party, also has a working 
knowledge of the operation of this law, which 



74 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

makes any successful party a haven of refuge 
for the spoilsmen of all parties; originally, 
that party was a party of high ideals and un- 
doubted patriotism, but Mr. Lincoln's second 
election gave a fair promise of the continuance 
of that party in power for a number of years 
at least, hence the rottenness of Mr. Grant's 
second term is a blot on our history ; no doubt 
the party would have been retired from 
power at that time except for the fact that 
public sentiment was fully as distrustful of 
its leading party opponent. 

In 1912, its junker bosses assumed that the 
rank and file of the party would stand for 
anything, hence, they proceeded upon the 
theory that they would stand for the doctrine 
"the party can do no wrong", and used the 
' 'steam roller" in support of that doctrine. 
The result is now history; the important 
question is, will those junker bosses acquire 
wisdom thru experience? 

Even the Socialist Party, should it ever 
come into power, will be compelled to bow 
to the law indicated in the foregoing. The 
operation of this law, makes government by 
parties undesirable; the American people are 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 75 

sure in the end, to find a better system. 
When we deeply, really and truly want some- 
thing better, it will show up all right. 



Party Idolatry 

What? Idolatry, in this little old U. S. A.? 
Yes, nothing short of just that; not wooden 
idols of course; but it is widely accepted as 
true that Idolatry is not confined exclusively 
to a worship of wooden idols ; Party Idolatry, 
consists in a setting up of a political party as 
a sort of political idol; it places devotion, 
allegiance, consecration, to a party, as first 
and foremost above everything else, even 
above the freedom of the individual (which, 
with all real patriots, is the most sacred thing 
in our political life) the rights of whom the 
party "steam roller" is under no self-imposed 
obligations to respect. 

The soul of Party Idolatry, as accepted by 
those who worship at that shrine — our 
junker politicians — is embodied in the false 
theory that "the party can do no wrong", 
which is simply a modified form of that old 
and (with us) exploded notion — theory — that 



76 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

"the king can do no wrong". Its strong 
right arm is the "steam roller", constituting 
a very essential — or at least a very prom- 
inent part — of the aforesaid idol. 

Fortunately for us as a nation, the great 
body of our people have not, as yet, become 
party idolaters except in a very limited way; 
as a matter of fact, the "genius of the Ameri- 
can people for self-government", is rapidly 
coming to mean, "the capacity of the Ameri- 
can people, to rise above party worship, 
whenever it threatens to become a real 
menace to democratic government". 

Our greatest danger rests in the fact that 
our junker idolaters are "in the saddle", and 
constitute our ruling class, hence, have almost 
unlimited opportunities for poisoning — cor- 
rupting — public sentiment at its fountain- 
head; every clean-minded citizen, who has 
mixed in "practical" (sic) politics, knows be- 
yond the shadow of a doubt, that this danger 
is no idle dream; the record will show, con- 
clusively, that these junker idolaters will not 
hesitate to thus poison — corrupt — public senti- 
ment, whenever, by so doing, they think the 
chances of the party for success will be thus 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 77 

advanced; inasmuch as the health of public 
sentiment is the most important thing in our 
national life, this danger is reaL, serious, and 
less and less remote from year to year. 

Our junker idolaters deem everything unim- 
portant which does not materially contribute 
to party success, and are very unscrupulous in 
their support of everything which, in their 
opinion, will contribute thereto; they do not 
hesitate to teach our rising generation any- 
thing (no matter how false and unpatriotic it 
may be) provided they think it will in any 
manner advance the chances of party success ; 
in this they are as blindly devoted, as are the 
boches in their support of the fatherland. 

They deem nothing wrong that is done in 
support of the party, and the general trend 
of their teachings is well illustrated in the re- 
mark of a young native-born American who 
had received his entire political training- 
thru them, viz.: "a man is a d d fool to 

have anything to do with politics, unless he is 
being well paid for it." 

Not very much of the spirit of self-sacrifice, 
self-consecration, necessary in a good soldier 
can be found in that doctrine; eliminate the 



78 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

spirit of self-sacrifice — self-consecration — from 
patriotism, and what is left — a mere shell — a 
mere name, nevertheless, in times of peace 
our party-junker idolaters persistently dis- 
pense just such stuff — poison — as is suggested 
in the last preceding paragraph without seem- 
ing to realize that in a surreptitious, insidious 
and traitorous way, they are betraying their 
country, in a much more sneaking, contempti- 
ble and unjustifiable spirit than evidently 
dominated the boches who poisoned wells in 
an enemy's territory. 

In its incipiency, all treason starts with the 
individual; under our Constitution, if each 
individual be loyal and true to himself, loyal 
and true to the best, the noblest, within his 
own nature, there could be no treason; like- 
wise, a party which is loyal and true to itself, 
to a high ideal of patriotism, of citizenship, 
of manhood, of government, will never be- 
come a traitor to our government; in saying 
this, it is frankly conceded that our law does 
not take cognizance of all cases of treason, 
and that it would be impossible, thru the 
courts, to secure a conviction of a political 
party for treason in any form. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 79 

Nevertheless, party organizations cannot 
escape responsibility for their own wrong acts, 
and they are always open to conviction thru 
the ballot box. The time is coming, is almost 
here, when no political organization, in an 
irresponsible way, can poison public senti- 
ment at its fountain-head, without account- 
ability therefor. The common people are 
growing away from party idolatry, and should 
the time ever come when they demonstrate 
their ability to manage their political busi- 
ness without calling on a political party for 
aid, it certainly will be a glorious day for our 
nation. 

This world war has been a deplorable cal- 
amity, but now that it has ended in the way 
it has, we find it easy to believe that we may 
confidently expect a re-birth of the spirit of 
American patriotism, hence, that the politi- 
cal party which ignores patriotism in the in- 
terests of party success, may awake to the 
fact that in doing so it has simply betrayed 
itself, and has thus become a public enemy. 

One hundred percent patriots are just as 
anxious, and work just as hard in times of 
peace to promote the general welfare, as they 



80 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

do in a time of war. Patriotism — the real, 
genuine article — is not a coat to be worn 
today, while it is popular, and laid aside to- 
morrow, when its popularity has faded into 
indifference — apathy ; under the present exist- 
ing conditions, it will not be reasonable to 
suppose that the citizen who does all within 
his power, to create and spread high, clear 
and healthy, conceptions of politics — govern- 
ment, of manhood, of citizenship and of pa- 
triotism, in the community in which he lives, 
will ever again be branded "a crank", and 
thrown out of the public service as though he 
had committed some crime. 

Before the war, such a citizen was, to our 
junker idolaters, of both parties, like a red 
rag to a mad bull; these junkers of both 
parties would very promptly combine to put 
him out of business, on the ground "that he 
talked too much"; it goes without further 
comment that what he said must have been 
true, otherwise it would have died a natural 
death; the citizen who spreads false doctrine 
is the only one who can truly be charged 
with having " talked too much"; the writer's 
knowledge of party idolatry is none of it 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 81 

second-hand "stuff"; he received his spank- 
ing and is glad of it; the knowledge acquired, 
was worth all that was paid for it. 

The honesty and sincerity of opinion, on 
the part of these junker idolaters, stands un- 
questioned by the writer. Most idolaters 
are perfectly sincere and honest in the wor- 
ship of their particular idol; their minds are 
completely filled with a false conception, and 
so long as that false notion remains undis- 
turbed in their minds, they are blind to any 
and all truth which does not harmonize there- 
with; until that false premise be upset, it 
were as useless to try to present truth to 
them, as to talk about colors, to a man born 
blind ; if we start with an aristocratic premise, 
we cannot hope to reach a democratic con- 
clusion. 

"Among the maxims of Col. Burr for the 
guidance of politicians, one of the most prom- 
inent was, that the people at elections were 
to be managed by the same rules of discipline 
as the soldiers of an army; that a few leaders 
were to think for the masses, and that the 
latter were to obey implicitly their leaders." 
(Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political 



82 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Economy and United States History, Vol. Ill, 
Page 783). 

Mr. Burr's theory seems to have come down 
to us thru all these years, unchanged, and 
constitutes the working formula of the bosses 
of both our leading parties today, and inci- 
dentally, where can you find a clearer, more 
accurate, more succinct, presentation of the 
theory underlying German Junkerism? It 
is a matter of serious doubt whether Kaiser 
Bill, himself, could better define it. 

We have recently spent billions in money, 
and much of our very best blood fighting 
Junkerism in Europe, without seeming to 
realize that we, for nearly a century have been 
fostering — even cultivating — the self-same 
spirit in our every-day political life; all of 
which well illustrates the importance of each 
voter thinking for himself; none of us can 
afford to shirk this sacred duty, nevertheless, 
we frequently do commit this great sin 
against Democracy. 

Constitutionally — innately — the human 
family (even mentally) apparently is lazy, all 
of which naturally harks back to our innate 
love of self, love of our own ease and comfort. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 83 

It is much easier — so much less trouble — 
to say "yes", to some other fellow's opinion, 
that any and all of us are strongly inclined to 
follow the line of least resistance and accept 
his opinion as true, rather than go to the 
trouble of investigating and thinking for our- 
selves; in other words we, as individuals, de- 
liberately shirk (like cowardly poltroons) the 
natural responsibility, amounting to sacred 
duty, and voluntarily elect to follow "the 
bunch", which in this connection simply 
means "the party" (like sheep) rather than 
make an effort to learn to stand alone upon 
our own mental legs and feet. 

To call this mental attitude babyish, were 
an insult to babyhood, hence we prefer to 
spare the baby the stigma of such a com- 
parison and call it just what it actually is, fat- 
headed stupidity — mental laziness — coupled 
with downright cowardice; to the eternal 
glory of universal babyhood, it can truth- 
fully be said, that the instances in which a 
baby shirks the natural duty of trying to 
learn to stand alone, are very rare, and even 
then can usually be traced back to abnormal 
conditions, operating as a cause thereof; the 



84 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

bumps and bruises — ignorant mistakes — 
are accepted by the candidate for perambula- 
tory honors as simply a part of his lesson, 
and at it he goes again, never giving up till he 
has learned his lesson; no matter how awk- 
ward and clumsy may have been his efforts, 
nor how far away success may have seemed, 
he (or she) keeps everlastingly at it until 
success finally does come: Except ye become 
as a little child, ye cannot even understand — 
much less appreciate — democratic government. 
In the doctrine of the "wide gate, and the 
broad way" (Matt. VII, 13), the World's 
Greatest Democrat emphasizes the dangers 
of following "the bunch" (like a sheep) and 
indicates that the penalty for thus following 
is "destruction"; this is in perfect harmony 
with the experiences of the world, both physi- 
cal and intellectual; any unused muscle or 
faculty tends continually to wither or waste 
away — atrophy — hence, he who deliber- 
ately elects to shirk the responsibility of do- 
ing his own thinking is in great danger of 
losing his spiritual eyesight — ability to dis- 
distinguish between right and wrong — in 
other words he is in danger of becoming one 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 85 

of that class that ''having eyes, see not". 
Brother, Nature has endowed you with a 
capacity to observe, compare and reason; if 
you use it, that capacity will increase in 
power — grow — but if you shirk your respon- 
sibility as an individual, you are in danger of 
becoming spiritually blind — unable to dis- 
tinguish between right and wrong. 

It is frankly admitted that he who makes 
such a choice, may grow — nay, will grow — 
downward, toward a spurious conception of 
democratic government; when viewed from 
the standpoint of patriotism, the more they 
grow in that direction, the less desirable they 
become as citizens. What care our Burr- 
Marcy-Junker party idolaters, how much 
they lower the standard of citizenship, so 
long as it helps to secure party success? 

Neither do they care for the fact that they 
are misleading the individual into a betrayal 
of himself. No person ever betrayed his 
country, until he had first betrayed himself; 
therefore, every time one of these Burr-Marcy- 
Junker party idolaters urges a voter to heed- 
lessly follow "the bunch", like a sheep, he 
is educating that voter in the direction of a 



86 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

disloyalty to himself, and, by the same token 
in the direction of a disloyalty to his country 
when the hour of temptation arrives; when- 
ever we educate our voters that party success 
is more important than the general welfare, 
we are planting the seeds of a disloyalty in 
his mind, which merely awaits time and a 
favorable opportunity, to blossom into treason. 

There have been many phases of party 
idolatry, since we began doing business under 
our present constitution; the "yaller dog" 
phase, at one time cut considerable figure in 
our every-day political life, but finally died 
a natural death; then the "bloody shirt" had 
its day, and also died a natural death; 
finally, the "common herd" began to distrust 
the party bosses, and to some extent at least, 
began to think independently of them, and 
from that time the spirit of party idolatry 
began to wane. 

But the most serious phase is that which es- 
tablishes this Burr-Marcy- Junker bastard 
system, as an exclusive training school, for 
the political training of our rising generation; 
the word exclusive is used deliberately and 
advisedly, for the reason that existing cus- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 87 

toms and conditions make it impossible for 
any youngster to secure either recognition or 
knowledge of politics except thru the ''regu- 
lar" machine methods — the Burr-Marcy- 
Junker system; that system was fastened 
upon us in so surreptitious a way and has been 
given so wide and general an acceptance as 
true for so long a time, that (in a semi-un- 
conscious way) it has secured for itself a per- 
manent lodgment in the public mind, hence, 
small consideration is given anything or any- 
body, except thru a presentation by one of 
the "regular" parties. 

Under this system our youngsters are taught 
the principles of "boss" — "gang" — rule, hence 
we must not be surprised when they practice 
just what they have been taught in the school 
to which we sent them; when we sent Lori- 
mer to this school, we had no right to expect 
anything better then "jack-pot" politics; why 
rail at bossism and gang rule, so long as we 
foster and maintain a system which cannot 
exist without bosses and a gang? 

As before suggested, the honesty and sin- 
cerity of opinion of these party idolaters 
stands unquestioned; they are the victims of 



88 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

a pernicious system — victims of a false system 
of political training — rather than offenders, 
and are more to be pitied than blamed ; if we 
deliberately send our youngsters to a political 
training school which operates upon the 
theory that an "in-growing" — highly sensi- 
tive, and keenly alive — conscience is a sin 
against the party, how can we reasonably 
hope for anything but rotten results? Na- 
ture has established the physic law, that he 
who desires to grow intellectually, must use 
his mental faculties — must observe, com- 
pare and reason — and the more he uses 
them, the greater will be his growth: the 
World's Greatest Democrat emphasized this 
law in the doctrine of the "straight gate, and 
narrow way" which leads to "life" — that is to 
more life — growth ; it is very clear that if each 
individual would do his own thinking, party 
idolatry would cease to be much of a menace 
to free government. 

Aaron Burr 
In the foregoing under the head of Fools, 
attention was called to the fact that there are 
two kinds of fools, viz.: (1) "Boneheads", who 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 89 

are unfortunately born thus and can't help it, 
hence, are justly entitled to our warmest 
sympathy, and kindliest compassion; (2) 
Damphools, who are possessed of brains (even 
brilliancy) galore, but who nevertheless, make 
a fool's use of their brains and wit; as illus- 
trating that fact, the name of Aaron Burr, 
was mentioned. In his boyhood and youth, 
Aaron Burr certainly must have been an in- 
tellectual prodigy. At eleven years of age, he 
was fully prepared — qualified — to enter 
college, but was shut out by the college au- 
thorities, because of college rules existing at 
that time regulating the age of admission; at 
thirteen, however, by a special concession in 
his favor, he was permitted to enter, and at 
seventeen graduated with distinction. 

A year later, after giving considerable time 
and study to religious questions, he adopted 
infidel views, and proceeded to develop his 
character on the basis of that of Lord Ches- 
terfield ; the latter is best known by his Letters 
to his son, Philip Dormer; these letters afford 
a good idea of the mental and moral calibre 
of their author, whom they show as a man of 
high culture and fine taste in social matters, 



90 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

but not troubled with any deep or spiritual 
views of life. 

It is strange but true, that poor, weak and 
puny man (no matter how much brain he 
may possess, nor how brilliant may be his 
wit) must worship something; consequently, 
young Burr chose to bestow his worship 
where his self-idolization — self-conceit — 
would be the least disturbed — upset — hence 
he chose to worship at the shrine of Lord 
Chesterfield rather than bend his knee to 
God. 

Right there he demonstrated that he prop- 
perly "belongs" in the Damphool class; na- 
ture's law governing man's highest and best 
development (growth) applied to him as im- 
mutably as to any other individual; man 
never is at a standstill; if he don't grow up- 
wards, he must grow downwards; the direc- 
tion of his growth depends upon the nature 
of his soul's love, affection ; if he loves God's 
Truth and Justice, he loves God, and if he 
sincerely struggles to live loyal and true to 
his highest and best conceptions of Truth and 
Justice, he is sure to grow upwards; but if he 
deliberately chooses to worship at the shrine 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 91 

of Conceit — self-worship — he infallibly must 
grow downwards. 

Inasmuch as man must worship at some 
shrine, why not offer our homage at that altar 
where we find the highest ideals of manhood, 
citizenship and patriotism? It is just such 
brainy and brilliant damphools as Aaron 
Burr who are too blind, in any measure to 
grasp the truth expressed by the World's 
Greatest Democrat, in Matt. X, 39: "He 
that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that 
loseth his life for my sake shall find it": Hav- 
ing eyes, they see not; also ears, but hear not 
— they are not only blind, but also deaf." 

"He that ruleth his spirit is better than he 
that taketh a city." (Prov. XVI, 32) ; every 
person who has succeeded in conquering him- 
self, knows that the job calls for that uncon- 
querable spirit which refuses to admit defeat 
under any circumstance or condition; the 
reason an American, after a few months' mil- 
itary training makes a fine soldier, grows out 
of the fact, that his every-day training along 
the ordinary walks of life has tended contin- 
ually to develop that I -refuse- to-admit-that- 
I'm-whipped spirit, coupled with the American 



92 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Idealism which gladly sacrifices life itself 
in support of a truly noble ideal. 

The person who deliberately chooses to 
build his life around an altar of self-worship, 
self-exaltation, self-adulation, self-conceit, 
vanity, certainly is a Damphool (with a big 
D) "without benefit of clergy"; Burr under- 
took to develop a self-centered character 
pivoted upon self-derived intelligence — a 
sort of phosphorescent light — a will-o-the- 
wisp, or jack-o-lantern, floating around over 
the dismal swamps of man's vanity (fre- 
quently to his complete undoing). He 
"found his life", and "lost it", by attempting 
to demonstrate that it is wholly unnecessary 
to acknowledge a Supreme Being — Lord — 
except Lord Chesterfield — and the result is 
now history which all may read at their 
leisure. 

Burr with all his brains and witty brilli- 
ancy, made just the same human mistake that 
is made by any other Damphool; he, just like 
one of the common "boneheads", undoubt- 
edly imagined that the highest importance or 
value of such an acknowledgment, had its 
principal bearing upon the Lord instead of 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 93 

upon Burr himself; the decision of the com- 
monest of the "common herd", is more apt 
to be absolutely right than that of any "high- 
brow" upon the point under consideration 
(see Luke XVIII, 11-14); Kaiser Bill under- 
took to build a character based upon the same 
style of spiritual architecture — leaving out 
Lord Chesterfield, of course — with still 
more unsatisfactory results. All of which 
clearly demonstrates the absolute absurdity 
and folly of striving to build up a great and 
truly powerful nation thru an intellectual — 
"high-brow" — Aristocracy. 

In this connection it is well to empha- 
size, by reiteration, the homely philosophy 
of Josh Billings, viz.: "it iz better not to kno 
so mutch, than to kno so menny things that 
aint so." "Beware, of the man whose head 
is above his conscience." As bearing upon the 
right development — growth — of the indivi- 
dual himself, the most important question to 
be decided is, "Is his heart in the right place"? 
Intellectual development, does not confer a 
higher sense either of Right or of Justice; 
therefore, beware of brainy and brilliant 
Damphools. They constitute very poor 



94 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

material out of which to manufacture real 
statesmen. 

What absurd, even idiotic nonsense, bun- 
glingly to try to operate a Constitution based 
on the principles of God's Eternal Justice, by 
and thru a Pagan system — a system truly 
reflecting the character of the man in whose 
brain it was born; Burr refused to admit 
God into his own life, hence it is not strange 
that God is excluded from the system founded 
by him. If any apology is due, because of the 
writer's use of the word ' 'pagan" in this con- 
nection, he will cheerfully make it — to the 
Pagans. 

The ridiculous absurdity of such an attempt 
would be comical, were it not for the fact, 
that sometimes, it borders very closely onto 
the tragical ; it is not clear that our Civil War 
is not justly chargeable to the party spirit 
developed under this Burr-Marcy-Junker 
freak; anyway, it was the "genius of the 
American people for self-government" (that 
is, the ability of our people to rise above 
party) that saved the situation in the Tilden- 
Hayes imbroglio caused by party schemes, 
intrigue and trickery; in almost any other 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 95 

country on earth, that combination of cir- 
cumstances and conditions, would in the end, 
have resulted in another civil war. 

As a nation, we are not damphools, even 
though we do possess brains: the possession 
of brains does not conclusively prove that 
either a nation or an individual is a damphool ; 
everything depends upon the use made of 
them; the writer feels very uncertain as to 
the way in which the change will come, but 
he has no doubts as to the final outcome; 
sooner or later the American people will see 
the absolute necessity of rising above this 
abuse of party spirit — the Burr-Marcy- 
Junker monstrosity — and when that time 
arrives the work will be well under way; the 
"common herd" can always get just what it 
wants in this country, provided it knows just 
what it does want and wants it earnestly 
enough to manfully struggle for it. 

Character, refers to the real person — 
what he (or she) actually is. Reputation, 
refers to the opinion of others as to what that 
character may or may not be. After the 
death of any person whose character we 
desire to study, the knowledge possible for us 



96 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

to obtain, bearing thereon, is necessarily 
limited to hearsay evidence, and to the works 
left behind in a greater or less durable 
form. 

As to the record left by Burr in his work, 
his adaptation of the principles of Feudalism 
to the spirit of party existing during his gen- 
eration, seems the most likely to stand as a 
more or less permanent monument of his 
character as a man; its permanence rests 
with the American people; it cannot be truly 
said that it has not been given a fair trial; 
after having given it a trial of about a cen- 
tury, we certainly should be able very ac- 
curately to judge as to whether it is or is not 
adapted to our highest and best develop- 
ment as a progressive nation and people. 

As to the hearsay evidence of those who 
knew him, Alexander Hamilton (who, un- 
doubtedly was an enemy) expresses himself 
thus: "As to Burr, these things are admitted, 
and indeed, cannot be denied, that he is a 
man of extreme and irregular ambition; that 
he is selfish to a degree which excludes all 
social affections; and that he is decidedly 
profligate." But his daughter, Theodosia 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 97 

Burr Alston, says "I had rather not live than 
not be the daughter of such a man." Thomas 
Jefferson (who also is usually reckoned as an 
enemy of Burr's describes him, as "A great 
man in little things, while he is really small in 
great ones." 

Amongst his biographers, James Parton 
seems to have been filled with an honest de- 
sire to fairly and justly present for the 
reader's consideration, both the good and 
bad to be found in his character, and says: 
"Burr was gifted by nature with courage, 
generosity and wit. The means of mental 
cultivation had been his, and he had an 
honorable profession. He was handsome, 
graceful, winning and high-spirited, as well 
as indefatigably diligent and enterprising. 
He was everything, he had everything requi- 
site for the attainment of permanent wel- 
fare, except that which has been styled the 
One Thing Needful — a CONSCIENCE 
enlightened and controlling. Continuing, 
however, he closes his Preface to the Enlarged 
Edition, thus "After doing full justice to his 
redeeming qualitites, and after making proper 
allowances for his faults, we must confess, 



98 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

that the popular judgment which expelled 
him from society, and which still refuses to 
pardon him, is upon the whole, not unjust. 
Men may forgive such a man : the community 
cannot; for there could be no community at 
all, if the majority of men were such as he." 



Elsewhere he says, "With all his faults, he 
never was given to self vindication. He was 
one of those men who naturally make them- 
selves out to be worse than they really are, 
rather than better. He told the anecdotes of 
his life merely as anecdotes." Continuing 
further, he in an explanatory way says, "It 
may occur to some readers, that the good in 
Burr is too conspicuously displayed, or his 
faults too lightly touched, in this volume. 
To such I desire to say that, in my opinion, 
it is the good in a man who goes astray, that 
ought most to alarm and warn his fellow-man. 
To suppress the good qualities and deeds of a 
Burr is only less immoral than to suppress 
the faults of a Washington. In either case 
the practical use of the Example is lost. Who 
can hope to imitate a perfect character? 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 99 

Who fears that he shall ever resemble an un- 
redeemed villain?" 

A study of the life of Aaron Burr seems 
emphatically to illuminate one important 
fact, viz.: that education, culture, training, is 
not the "One Thing Needful", to which Mr. 
Parton so aptly refers ; changing Mr. Parton's 
language without materially changing his 
meaning, the writer would describe the "One 
Thing Needful" as CHARACTER; and by 
"character" is meant the soul's affections; if 
we love Right (for the sake of Right) and 
Truth, and Justice, we love God, and indulge 
in no self-worship. 

To the individual, a clear conception of 
character, is the most important thing in 
life; as has been briefly suggested in the fore- 
going, we are all born into a Love of Self, 
around which we can, if we thus decide, build 
our character; to deliberately decide to do so, 
constitutes "finding his life", as suggested by 
the World's Greatest Democrat, in Matt. X, 
39; but there is a higher and better self, 
which we can "find", if we prefer to do so. 
But to thus "find" this higher selfhood, in- 
volves a deliberate choice, and enough serious 



100 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

earnestness of purpose to persistently struggle 
for a substitution of a Love of Right (for the 
sake of Right) of Truth, and of Justice, for 
the love of self into which we are born. When 
we have decided to make this substitution, 
and earnestly strive to make said struggle 
effective during our natural lives, we have 
started to grow in the right direction. 

Burr decided to try growing in the other 
direction; likewise so did Napoleon Bona- 
parte; likewise so did Kaiser Bill; one of the 
worst phases of Burr's damphool decision 
was, that it disqualified him for either an un- 
derstanding or an appreciation, of such men 
as Washington (in whose family he at one 
time was a resident). Mr. Parton, upon this 
phase, says, "Burr never did learn correctly 
to value the character of the commander-in- 
chief, and the immeasurable services which 
his caution and perseverance had rendered to 
his country and to man. The prejudices 
against the general, imbibed during his short 
residence with him at Richmond Hill, were 
strengthened by subsequent events into a 
settled dislike, which he carried with him 
through life. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 101 

In one word, there was an antipathy be- 
tween the two men, each lacking qualities 
which the other highly prized; each possess- 
ing virtues w T hich by the other were not 
admired." 

Burr evidently made exactly the same mis- 
take that so many of the present generation 
are making, to wit; he apparently over- 
rated the value and importance of education, 
culture, training, and underrated the value 
and importance of character. Character, is 
the foundation : education — kulture — training 
— is the superstructure ; no matter how much 
ornamentation is bestowed upon the super- 
structure, if the foundation be weak and 
crumbly, the entire building is correspond- 
ingly weak, and poorly adapted to withstand 
the ravages of time and use. It is up to 
each individual to bear this in mind, when he 
decides as to the plan on which he desires to 
build his character ; the most important phase 
of the job rests in the quality of the founda- 
tion put down ; if the foundation be strong and 
solid — well adapted to withstand the tests of 
time and the temptations which life is sure to 
bring, it is then wise to build as beautiful and 



102 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

attractive a superstructure as the indivi- 
dual's taste and circumstances will permit. 

Kaiser Bill, no doubt, was perfectly honest 
in his opinion, that education, kulture, train- 
ing, comparatively, was more important than 
character; it certainly must have been the sur- 
prise of this life, to have it so clearly demon- 
strated that he was wholly in error, and that 
even in an army of soldiers, his theory would 
not stand the test of actual battle. 

We Americans, have hitched our wagon to 
the theory, that each individual should be 
permitted to develop his own character in his 
own way, so long as he does not trample upon 
the rights of other individuals; if this theory 
is wrong, we are in a fair way to find out just 
wherein its falsity lies. 

Each and every individual, who, like Burr, 
deliberately chooses to live a self-centered life 
and to try to walk in the phosphorescent 
light of self-derived intelligence, relapses into 
savagery, becomes a wild man, whose hand 
is against every man's, and against whom is 
every man's hand, plainly speaking, an Ish- 
maelite, compelled to fight the world for every- 
thing he gets: but it is well to bear in mind, 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 103 

that he who makes the opposite decision, 
will also have a lifelong fight against his own 
weaknesses and temptations; hence, life is 
one continuous fight, from the cradle to the 
grave; there is but small space for cowards 
here on earth, nor will be for thousands — 
perhaps millions — of years yet ; we do not 
need to revert to savagery, in order to develop 
a fighting spirit. 

Inasmuch as Burr built his party system 
upon the underlying principles of Feudalism, 
he and the German Junkers could very easily 
and harmoniously have chummed together, 
for the reason that each was very sincerely 
and honestly of the opinion that education, 
kulture, training, is, comparatively, of more 
importance and value in life and in politics, 
than is character. But it should never be 
overlooked, that the sincerity and honesty of 
this opinion does not in any way change its 
falsity. 

In any study of life's problems, one fact is 
sure sooner or later, to struggle for man's 
recognition, viz.: that each Falsity possesses 
its own peculiar blindness; all of which may, 
possibly, be made clearer by a figurative 



104 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

presentation of the idea. Let each Falsity be 
represented by a particular kind of spectacles ; 
whenever any person puts on the particular 
kind of spectacles belonging to a certain Fal- 
sity, and confirms himself in their use, he be- 
comes blind to any presentation of Truth 
until he has put off his glasses ; even then he is 
blind unless the Truth presented is adapted 
to those particular spectacles. 

So far as that person is concerned, he is 
totally blind to any presentation of Truth 
which does not properly focalize thru those 
glasses; also it must agree with them in both 
color and particular tint. Burr's record 
clearly demonstrates that he very sincerely 
and honestly subscribed to an intellectual — 
"high -brow" — Aristocracy; this being true 
he could not adapt himself to any political 
truth which did not harmonize with that pre- 
conceived notion ; inasmuch as Feudalism was 
based on aristocratic notions, he proceeded to 
utilize its fundamental principles in American 
politics, without noticing, probably, nor even 
caring, whether those principles were or were 
not adapted to our Democratic Institutions. 

Nevertheless, his acceptance as true of the 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 105 

aristocratic principles of Feudalism, would 
have made him and the junkers of Germany 
"hail fellows, well met". It is an open ques- 
tion, whether he, at heart, ever was a real 
Democrat, or that he was possessed of any 
real desire ever to become one; the probabili- 
ties are very strong that he affiliated with 
the party which afterward changed its name 
to "Democratic", merely for the "loaves and 
fishes" naturally coming its way, thru a grow- 
ing popularity of that party; the presumption 
is a strong one that he lived and died an 
Aristocrat, well fed-up on the notion of his 
intellectual superiority — self-conceit. 

"Ye cannot serve two masters." Ye can- 
not serve both Aristocracy and Democracy; 
many have tried the experiment of mixing 
water and oil, without satisfactory results, 
and it can be safely assumed that the same 
old experiment will continue to be repeated 
to the end of time; from the above it is clear 
that Burr's real treason began, in self- 
deception, self -betrayal, hence the question 
insistently obtrudes itself, is it not just as 
dangerous for a nation to indulge a spirit of 
self-deception — self-betrayal ? 



106 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Mr. Shakespeare handed the world some 
very good Democratic doctrine when he said : 
'To thine own self be true; and it follows, as 
the night the day, thou canst not then be 
false to any man." Can we as a nation 
afford to waste time, energy and opportunity, 
upon the old and oft-tried experiment of 
mixing oil and water, Democracy and Aris- 
tocracy? Is it not just as silly to try to live half 
Democratic, and half Aristocratic, as to try to 
live "half slave, and half free"? Is it worthy of 
the intelligence of the American people to long- 
er try to administer a Democratic Constitu- 
tion by and thru an Aristocratic system? 

All these questions are of very little impor- 
tance, except to ourselves; but to us they are 
of paramount importance; all this oratorical 
and rhetorical flourish and clap-trap about 
our being "the greatest nation on earth" — 
"God's chosen people" — et cetera, to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 

Government by "The Best" 

The inflated and self-satisfied air of swag- 
gering importance with which our junker 
bosses — party idolaters — blatantly pro- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 107 

claim that they stand for government by 
"the best", would be comical were it not so 
dangerously misleading when announced to a 
class of persons who depend upon others to 
do their thinking for them; the proposition, 
as thus presented, is a decidedly "catchy" 
one at first glance; nevertheless, investiga- 
tion is sure to develop the fact, that it is 
absolutely false — the veriest "bunk" — 
craftily handed out for the sole purpose of 
"throwing dust" into the eyes of the thought- 
less and unwary. 

This usually becomes perfectly clear to 
every seriously thoughtful student of so- 
called "practical" politics, whenever inquiry is 
made as to just what is meant by "the best" 
such inquiry is sure to bring out the fact 
that, in their opinion at least, it means 
the aforesaid Junker-Aristocrat-Damphool- 
"Smart-Aleck" class, trained, as they 
modestly (sic) aver, in all the ins and outs 
of so-called "practical" (?) politics — all of 
which means, in its last analysis, government 
by a rotten bunch of traitors — a treacher- 
ous bunch of unscrupulous party idolaters so 
wholly devoid of the genuine spirit of patriotism, 



108 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

that they very seldom hesitate an in- 
stant in the traitorous work of poisoning 
public sentiment, whenever and wherever 
that work will, in their opinion, contribute to 
the success of "the party". 

It also means the permanent establishment 
in our politics in this country, of the same 
system of crafty fraud, intrigue, sophistry 
and subterfuge, which has so long dominated 
European politics, and which Germany tried 
so hard to make permanent amongst nations 
under the name of "secret diplomacy", to the 
disgust of the enlightened conscience of the 
entire world. 

Further inquiry will, no doubt, demonstrate 
to the entire satisfaction of the most skepti- 
cal, that the self -assumed superiority of these 
"Smart- Aleck" junker bosses rests, exclu- 
sively, in their knowledge of the wily sophis- 
tries, shifty tricks, crafty schemes and un- 
scrupulous frauds, constituting so prominent 
a part of the bastard Burr-Marcy-Junker 
monstrosity (ignorance of which is a high 
compliment), a system specially planned and 
built with an eye single to the deceiving, 
bamboozling, hoodwinking, of the trustful 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 109 

and unwary voter; therefore, their boasted 
government by "the best", upon investiga- 
tion proves to be government by "the worst" 
all of which comes home to us with double 
force when the fact is recalled that these 
junker bosses constitute what we know as the 
"invisible" government, which in the past has 
invariably proved itself very handy in en- 
gineering the "steam roller" in its own in- 
terests. 

The "invisible" government moves in 
"ways that are dark", their "wonders to per- 
form"; and by "tricks that are vain", they 
certainly do get results — of a kind (?); if it 
be desired to set aside some phase of our 
Constitution which operates as a brake upon 
their work in the interests of the success of 
"the party", they avoid all noise, discussion, 
publicity, and quietly, but unitedly go to 
work to establish political customs which in 
a very "practical" way support their view of 
what the Constitution should be. 

To illustrate; one of the fundamental prin- 
ciples upon which our Constitution rests is, 
that the representatives (of whatever kind or 
nature) elected by us to act for us in the 



110 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

handling of public affairs, are our servants; 
we, after nearly a century of junker misrule, 
still continue to jolly ourselves that this is 
true; but any so-called "practical", junker, 
politician could, if he would, tell you just 
how fallacious a doctrine that is, under our 
present regime; he knows and, probably, so 
do you that instead of being our servant, he is 
usually, the servant of the junker bosses who 
engineered his election; therefore, instead of 
trying to develop his higher manhood — char- 
acter — along broad and statesmanlike lines, 
he very naturally becomes a truckling "boot- 
licker", ready and willing (nay, eager) to do 
their bidding. 

Occasionally some "cocky" youngster tries 
to demonstrate his independence by an at- 
tempt to live up to the doctrine that elected 
representatives of the people, are our servants 
but immediately the work of digging his poli- 
tical grave is begun, and sooner or later — 
presumably sooner — his political corpse is 
buried therein. 

The revolt — protest — of 1912, which re- 
sulted in the birth of the Progressive Party, 
grew out of certain circumstances and condi- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 111 

tions which forced into prominence a single 
issue, only, and had that party decided to 
stand fairly and squarely on that single issue, 
nothing on earth could have prevented Mr. 
Roosevelt's election. 

The issue which naturally and logically 
grew out of the preceding facts and condi- 
tions, rests in the natural antagonism of the 
doctrine affirmed by the Progressives, that 
representatives elected by the people, are the 
people's servants, and the "practical" (?) 
doctrine applied by the Republican Burr- 
Marcy- Junker-Bastard party idolaters — 

bosses, to wit; "The people be d d"; the 

issue might be stated more concisely — per- 
haps more clearly — but the writer ventures 
the opinion that the above will be understood. 

Considered as a protest, that revolt cer- 
tainly was a stupendous success and demon- 
strated that the hearts of the rank and file of 
the Republican party of this country, are in 
the right place; that when called upon to de- 
cide between the spirit of patriotism — a love 
of country — (a desire to promote the general 
welfare) and party idolatry, it is not as easy 
to bamboozle them as was supposed by the 



112 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Burr-Marcy-J unker bosses of that party; and 
also that whenever party idolatry threatens 
to become a menace to Democratic govern- 
ment, we can safely rely on our "common 
herd" to rise above it, even though said bosses 
are too deeply steeped in evil, to be able to 
wisely guide them. 

If we really and truly want government by 
"the best", the conditions imperatively de- 
mand that we provide some system of nomin- 
ating candidates for the different offices, and 
of electing our representatives in the public 
service, unhampered by a responsibility to 
anything or anybody, except to the voters 
who elect them; the Burr-Marcy-Junker 
party idolaters, have so long preached the 
doctrine that government without parties is 
an absolute impossibility so long as human 
nature is human nature, that many accept 
that doctrine as true, without pausing to 
ponder the proposition. 

Under this Burr-Marcy-Junker-Bastard 
monstrosity, a political party is simply "or- 
ganized greed, for predatory purposes". It is 
admitted without argument, that govern- 
ment without Factions, is an absolute impossi- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 113 

bility, so long as human nature remains as it 
is, but "factions" are one thing, "parties" in 
the sense used by them is another, and very 
different thing; so long as we have honest 
differences of opinion, we must have factions, 
but that government without organized hog- 
gish greed is impossible, is denied in toto; 
whenever the "common herd" really and 
truly want government without parties, they 
will find a way to get it. 

Incidentally, the writer, in a suggestive way 
and in connection with the revolt of 1912 
desires to submit the question, would not our 
political parties promote the public good by 
the presentation of a single issue at each 
election? The presentation of more than one, 
smells suspiciously like an effort to confuse — 
bamboozle — the unwary voter. 

Every lawyer will at once see the bearing, 
and at once understand its importance; under 
the practical working of an established cus- 
tom as suggested, the growth of a healthy 
sense of responsibility upon the party mana- 
gers, naturally might be expected, and like- 
wise, the growth of a patriotic sense of re- 
sponsibility, upon the part of voters. This 



114 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

phase of our subject is an important one, and 
the suggestion is made here and in this con- 
nection, merely in a tentative way. 

The Burr-Marcy-Junker-Bastard bosses are 
so thoroughly grounded in the doctrine of 

"the public be d d", that it seems almost 

silly to suggest the establishment of a custom 
which will largely depend upon their endorse- 
ment and aid; however, if the "common herd" 
were to become thoroughly enough in earnest 
to imperatively demand such a change of 
custom, it can be obtained; our junker class is 
cowardly in the face of unpopularity, hence 
if said common herd demands it with suffi- 
cient earnestness, it is sure to come, sooner or 
later. As now established, it is the custom 
for each party to present a "platform", into 
which each incorporates the principles for 
which it is willing to stand at the approaching 
election. Some of these so-called platforms 
are certainly distorted and absurdly freakish 
nondescripts — a mere hotch-potch of prin- 
ciples, so inconsistent that they fight each other. 

Under these conditions, no matter how 
patriotic, at heart, a voter may be, how can 
he vote for what he thinks is the public good ? 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 115 

If he decides to vote for this, that or the 
other party, regardless of platform, he knows 
full well they all represent the same principle, 

to wit: the principle of "the public be d d", 

hence if he be really and truly patriotic (unless 
he can find some party which presents some 
well-defined single question bearing directly 
on some one phase of the general welfare) he 
very naturally becomes apathetic as to 
whether he votes at all ; and why should he not 
become apathetic? The platforms are such a 
mixed-up mess it is usually impossible to ex- 
press a definite opinion on any one phase of 
our political life; hence, no responsibility is 
fixed on either party; the more a party can 
mix up its platform of principles, the less the 
responsibility of the party for the enforce- 
ment of any of them. 

"No chain is stronger than its weakest 
link." There are two weak links in our poli- 
tical chain, viz.: (1) An excess of party spirit 
— a party idolatry; and (2) A growing 
spirit of apathy on the part of the common 
people; it is the fashion to lay the blame for 
the latter upon the common people them- 
selves, but it is well to carefully ponder 



116 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

both sides of the question, before placing all 
the blame at their door ; had they not been so 
often deceived, misled, bamboozled, by our 
junker "Smart-Alecks" — conceited Dam- 
phools — the writer suggests that it is im- 
probable that they would have become so 
apathetic. 

The citizens of this nation love their coun- 
try and are proud of its glorious history, as 
well as the wise adaptation of its Constitu- 
tion (when clearly understood) to a sound 
and healthy development — evolution — of 
man considered as an individual, and to the 
imperative demands of an advancing civiliza- 
tion, but when forced into a recognition of the 
fact that his participation in politics is re- 
stricted to a choice of one out of several evils 
— parties — each of which is dominated by 
the so-called "practical" doctrine of "the 

public be d d", what incentive has he to 

become an thing but apathetic? 

Under existing conditions, and in view of 
the facts, capable of being verified by any 
voter (whose heart is on the patriotic side), 
is it necessary to make any argument in sup- 
port of the writer's allegation that this Burr- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 117 

Marcy-Junker-Bastard political freak and real 
patriotism are so antagonistic, that in the 
end, a conflict between them is sure to come? 
The fact that long periods of time sometimes 
elapse between volcanic eruptions is no evi- 
dence that the smoldering fires are not con- 
tinually burning. 

The evils of each age are the natural out- 
growth of the false doctrines of the genera- 
tions preceding, therefore, the common de- 
mands of humanity are such that we cannot 
exercise too great a care as to the truth or 
falsity of the doctrine — theories — transmitted 
by us to the generation next following us; if 
we as individuals desire to develop along the 
lines of true manhood, we cannot afford to 
shirk our responsibilities along the lines in- 
dicated. 

But why talk to Burr-Marcy-Junker grad- 
uates of our political training-school (con- 
trolled and managed exclusively in the inter- 
ests of our Bastard System) about our respon- 
sibilities to succeeding generations? It would 
be less silly to talk to his Satanic Majesty 
and his herd of complacent followers, about 
the beautiful climate of heaven; they simply 



118 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

would not understand what we were talking 
about; hence, why waste time which might 
be more usefully employed? 

The graduates of said training-school soon 
become, at heart, traitors to their country. 
This fact is clearly apparent in their working 

formula, "The public be d d", coupled 

with the history of their use of the "steam 
roller", in support of that formula; if further 
evidence is necessary, carefully note their 
attitude toward anyone in the public service, 
who independently refuses to lick their boots 
— do their bidding — when said bidding is 
inconsistent with his conception of duty as a 
servant of the general public; if still unsatis- 
fied of the truth of the charge, carefully note 
the sly, insidious ways used by them in de- 
bauching — poisoning — public sentiment in 
the interests of party success, also the per- 
sistence with which they strive to degrade — 
destroy — the high ideals of manhood, citizen- 
ship and patriotism, of the rising generation, 
coming to them for training along political 
lines. Bah! And yet, they have the insuf- 
ferable "gall" to swaggeringly and blatantly 
boast of their support of government by "the 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 119 

best"; such loathesome effrontery is suffi- 
ciently nauseous, to make a self-respecting 
maggot heave up his dinner. 

Nevertheless, the fact should continually 
be borne in mind that those graduates are 
simply living up, or rather down, to the teach- 
ings of the school to which we sent them, 
hence, it will not be fair to them, for us to try 
to shift all the responsibility for these rotten 
conditions over to their shoulders; surely a 
part of the blame should be assumed by us. 

And said responsibility should remain on 
our shoulders, until we shall have given the 
very best — all — within us towards the im- 
provement thereof. The spirit of our revolu- 
tionary ancestors is continually calling us (thru 
the Constitution left by them to succeeding 
generations) to be true to ourselves as indivi- 
duals true to the highest, noblest, best, within 
us, and thus be true, not alone to our country, 
but also to all succeeding generations. 

•'I have no expectation that any man will 
read history aright who thinks that what was 
done in a remote age, by men whose names 
have resounded far, has any deeper sense than 
what he is doing today." (Emerson's Essay 



120 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

on History). Under our Burr-Marcy-Junker- 
Bastard scheme for corrupting public senti- 
ment in the interest of "the party", (under 
a constitution which sets up the individual 
as the unit of our political life, and after a 
century of active and intense life thereunder 
we apparently have a very vague, dim per- 
ception of the dignity and importance of 
the individual in our political life; all of 
which is the immediate effect of the very 
steady, persistent pressure thru said scheme 
for corrupting public sentiment, to merge the 
political life of the individual into that of 
"the party". 

Occasionally there is a dauntless soul who 
is perfectly willing to fight the whole bunch, 
even though he knows beyond a doubt, that 
there is no chance for his "winning out" at 
the finish; inasmuch as he enjoys the fight, 
the few slight bruises received are soon for- 
gotten; it is thru just such experiences as 
these that American character is beginning 
to have a distinguishing quality all its own. 
It is this development of the individual from 
the inside, that makes every American boy a 
soldier — a fighter — after a few months mili- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 121 

tary training, as has been well demonstrated 
very recently. 

But an independent individualism is, to a 
bunch of these worshipers of party slavery, 
like a red rag to a mad bull ; there is nothing 
they hate so much as a real man who has 
opinions of his own, coupled with an ability 
to clearly and forcibly express them. 

"I honor the man who is willing to sink 

Half his present repute for freedom to think, 

And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or 

weak, 
Will sink t'other half for freedom to speak, 
Caring naught for the vengeance the mob has in store, 
Be that mob the upper ten thousand or lower." 

(James Russell Lowell, in A Fable for Critics.) 

Constructive statesmanship, imperatively 
demands men of character, men of independ- 
ence, men of moral courage, men of decision 
and firmness, men of powerful will, men of 
high ideals, of manhood, of citizenship and of 
patriotism, as well as of brains; nevertheless, 
that is just the kind of men our Burr-Marcy- 
Junker-Bosses deliberately strive to eliminate 
from our public service, and in their stead they 



122 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

strive to elevate mere truckling "boot-lickers", 
tools, stool-pigeons. 

Occasionally, by accident or in spite of said 
bosses, a real statesman "gets by", and then 
they pose as having deliberately selected him. 
Lincoln was not their first choice, but his evi- 
dent popularity with the masses made him 
the logical leader of what at that time seemed 
"a forlorn hope", and the numerous splits in 
the Democratic party, finally compassed his 
election. 

They evidently thought that they had buried 
Roosevelt when they succeeded in shoving 
him into the vice-presidency, but unforeseen 
circumstances decreed otherwise; "The deep- 
laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley." 
By the way, thru reiteration, the writer de- 
sires to specially emphasize the fact that, as 
Burr refused to admit a God in his own life, 
neither is there any recognition or even ad- 
mission of a God in this Feudalistic party 
freak which he so traitorously has handed 
down to us. The idiotic absurdity of striving 
to administer a Constitution founded upon 
God's Eternal principles of Right, Truth and 
Justice by and thru a godless system. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 123 

The writer also favors a government by 
"The Best", but fails to perceive — understand 
— how we as a nation can hope to continue to 
expand, develop, grow, into a national great- 
ness of character, under the leadership of men 
(or women) whose individual lives revolve 
upon the pivot of self- worship — self-conceit — 
and leads to no higher light than the jack-o- 
lantern, will-o-the-wisp, phosphorescent glow 
of self-derived intelligence. 

National greatness does not depend upon a 
wide expanse of territory, upon population, 
upon wealth, nor even upon intellectual de- 
velopment; true national greatness is a matter 
of character, of loyalty to the highest — best — 
noblest — in life, and a steady (even though 
slow) approach to that divine light, without 
which neither men nor nations can hope to 
develop toward higher and better things; 
brainy Damphools (no matter how highly 
educated, nor how brilliant) do not furnish 
the best timber from which to develop wise 
leaders; and the American "common herd" 
are becoming wide awake — thoroughly alive — 
to that fact, in witness of which fact the reader 
is respectfully referred to the history of the 



124 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

repeated disappointments of Mr. Blaine; 
their distrust of "Slippery Jim", was always 
in evidence to his discomfiture. 

Conceit is not, necessarily, wisdom; what 
we need — must secure — is wise, not conceited, 
leaders ; the more polish — education — be- 
stowed upon conceit, the less desirable as 
leaders ; we are sorely in need of some system 
of selecting leaders which will eliminate the 
conceited, but will cling to the patriotic and 
wise; we can never hope to reach this highly 
desirable end so long as those "in the saddle" 
are continually striving to impress the rank 
and file of the party with the false doctrine 
that party success is more important than the 
general welfare, unless the rank and file, 
considered as individuals, possess enough inde- 
pendence of character to practically apply the 
principle so happily expressed by Mr. Lowell, 
quoted above. 

For the past twenty-five years that spirit 
of manly independence has been surely (even 
though slowly) growing, and — the writer has 
faith to believe — will, in the end, prove itself 
our political salvation. 

There may have been a time, probably was 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 125 

when election to a public office was an honor- 
able distinction, but that time certainly is 
now past; at the present time and under the 
present regime, all that can be safely inferred 
from such an election is, that the rank and 
file deemed him the lesser of two, possibly 
more, evils; his principal strength at the polls 
may have rested in the weakness of his per- 
sonal opponent, considered as a man, or in 
the weakness of the opposing party, therefore, 
therein all the honor (or dishonor) lies. 

So far as honorable distinction is concerned, 
there is no incentive for our rising generation 
to seek it along the lines of an entry into the 
public service; this is a very seriously dis- 
couraging — depressing — aspect of the existing 
political conditions; we need a system of se- 
lecting our public servants — representatives — 
decent, clean enough, to make it look at- 
tractive, to the very highest — best, noblest — 
amongst our rising generation ; under our pre- 
sent regime — system — it looks little more 
attractive than safe-blowing or bank robbery ; 
as a matter of fact the latter crimes, call for a 
spirit of daring adventure and cool courage 
wholly lacking in the former; traitorously to 



126 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

betray a trusting friend — the general public 
— calls for nothing of daring, nor of cool 
courage; it simply calls for the spirit of a 
cowardly sneak. 

Many well-meaning and patriotic citizens 
have had it so long and persistently pounded 
into their ears that any better system of se- 
lecting our public servants, is a mere "iri- 
descent dream", that they simply shut their 
eyes, wisely shake their heads and vehemently 
assert "it's simply impossible" ; it is useless to 
argue with this class; they are forcible illus- 
trations of the shriveling — stagnating — effect 
of conceit upon the human mind; it is not 
strange that The World's Greatest Democrat 
spoke of them as "having eyes they see not, 
and ears but hear not"; all that can be done 
for that class is to leave them entirely alone; 
it may require some bitter experience to open 
their eyes, but that task can be safely left to 
time and the Lord. 

The mental attitude of this class of Amer- 
icans, merely demonstrates the strong grip 
it is possible for a false doctrine to secure 
upon the public imagination, when handed 
down from preceding generations, and given 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 127 

a general acceptance as true for a long period 
of time. 

Every true American, as an individual, 
wants government by "The Best"; we are 
harmonious upon that general proposition, 
but that does not get us very far. Two im- 
portant questions naturally arise, upon which 
it is much more difficult to agree, viz.: (1) 
What constitutes "The Best"? (2) By what 
system of selection — election — can we feel 
reasonably sure that we are securing "The 
Best"? Everything depends upon a wise and 
patriotic decision of both these questions. 

In the foregoing the writer has striven to 
make it clear and plain that government by 
a bunch of conceited "Smart Alecks" — 
Damphools — intellectual Aristocrats — can- 
not possibly constitute government by "The 
Best"; also that the selection of our public 
servants by and thru a system which con- 
tinually pushes forward a bunch of unscru- 
pulous tricksters — freebooters — can never 
help us very far toward the desired end. 

This world war demonstrated that Ameri- 
can patriotism, American idealism, is not 
dead, and that the spirit of consecration in 



128 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

the interests of the public good, still sur- 
vives, hence, when it becomes necessary to 
decide the above questions they will be de- 
cided intelligently, wisely and patriotically 
"you can't fool all the people all the time"; 
possibly they may go wrong 99 times out of 
100, but it is their final decision which counts, 
and the ' 'genius of the American people for 
self-government" invariably leads them to 
rise above party idolatry whenever an emer- 
gency arises which really demands it; the 
spirit of party idolatry is growing weaker and 
weaker from year to year, and the time is 
sure to come when they will honestly and 
earnestly desire to get above it, and stay 
there, in times of peace as well as in times of 
war; when that mental attitude arrives, the 
difficult part of the task will have been ac- 
complished. 

The intelligent and wise solution, from the 
standpoint of the common good, of the last 
two questions suggested in the immediate fore- 
going, is sure to have an important bearing on 
our future history as a nation ; to have helped 
"made the world safe for Democracy", consti- 
tutes a glorious chapter in our history; and 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 129 

the daredevil dash and daring — "zip" — with 
which our "boys", when pitted against the 
veteran troops of the greatest military power 
which the world has ever produced, so forcibly 
and magnificently demonstrated the quality 
of manhood which Democracy breeds, must 
ever be contemplated by future generations 
of Americans with soul-stirring thrills of 
pride, and should stand as a continuous in- 
spiration to all of us to never let up in our 
struggles to further perfect the work so nobly 
and patriotically begun by the Revolution- 
ary Fathers, in our struggles to grow toward 
the light, toward the higher and better things 
of life. 

"Our fathers to their graves have gone; 
Their strife is past, — their triumph won; 
But sterner trials wait the race 
Which rises in their honored place, — 
A moral warfare with the crime 
And folly of an evil time." 

(J. G. Whittier, in The Moral Warfare.) 

In his youth and early manhood, the writer, 
was sometimes wont, in his callow innocence, 
to indulge a deeply sincere regret that all the 
great and important questions bearing with 



130 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

tremendous force upon social, political and 
religious life, had already been settled, and 
that no opportunity could possibly present 
itself, giving him a chance to try out and 
demonstrate the quality of the metal within 
him. 

This shallow view of life, handed down from 
the preceding generations, probably grew out 
of the general acceptance of the notion, as 
true, that times of peace do not as a rule, 
present opportunities of heroic patriotism; 
there is a difference of course, but peace offers 
many more opportunities for patriotic self- 
immolation — self-consecration — than appear 
at first glance; but the courage therein called 
for certainly is not of a low order. 

Young man! If the spirit of patriotism 
burning within you, yearns for the impetuous 
charge, the rattle of musketry, and the boom 
of cannon, followed by the blare of trumpets 
— all the usual pageantry of a victorious 
home-coming — you must await a time of 
war in which to gratify it. None of the Big 
Noise is attendant upon patriotism in times 
of peace. Patriotism is then unpopular with 
our junker bosses (who are then "in the sad- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 131 

die") and unless you are willing to give them 
satisfactory assurances that you are willing 
to take your orders from them, your political 
grave is dug, and nothing remains to be done 
but to lower the corpse therein and fill up the 
grave; and during the whole time these self- 
same junkers will, in all probability, be pos- 
ing before the public as a friend and supporter 
of yours, declaring to all your friends, that 
"nothing on earth could induce them, in any 
manner, shape or form, to misrepresent you"; 
nevertheless, before leaving them — your 
friends — they will manage in some way to 
plant one of their insidious "campaign lies", 
based upon some unimportant and innocent 
fact, possessing just enough color of truth to 
give plausibility to said lie. 

You merely may strive to secure a public 
discussion of some principle bearing upon ex- 
isting conditions, believing that such a dis- 
cussion will tend toward a healthier condition 
of public sentiment, but if these same junkers 
deem such a discussion inimical to the success 
of the party, you will be surprised how many 
difficulties will arise to smother any such discus- 
sion ; in short, unless everything is submitted 



132 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

to them for their endorsement and ap- 
proval, you will find all discussion strangled 
in the "bornin' " and find yourself very un- 
popular; it is altogether probable, that some 
fine morning you will wake up branded — 
during the night — as a "crank", neither 
safe nor sane. Invariably these junker 
bosses are opposed to any kind of patriotism, 
in times of peace, if they deem it possible 
that its discussion will in any way jeopardize 
the success of the party at the coming elec- 
tion. 

It certainly does seem incredible that in 
this so-called enlightened age, under so lib- 
eral, broad, free and just a Constitution as 
our own, that a community could be found so 
lacking in patriotism as to join in a persecu- 
tion of one of its own members, for no greater 
offense than that, without having consulted 
the junker bosses of that community, he in- 
dependently and as an individual, did all 
within his power to add to the growth of a 
healthier public sentiment; in his self-imposed 
task, he confined himself to a discussion of 
principles, and conscientiously avoided any 
and all personal attacks. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 133 

No discussion was secured ; mention is here 
made of the incident as illustrative of the 
grip which the junker bosses have upon poli- 
tics when viewed from a local standpoint. 
That grip is apparent enough when veiwed 
from a state or national standpoint. 

The writer happened to be the victim in 
this instance, hence, is fully prepared to fur- 
nish the necessary evidence if called on for 
same; personally he has no feeling of ill-will 
or resentment in connection therewith. He 
simply recalls it in precisely the same way that 
he does the numerous spankings received 
during boyhood; the black eye given him by 
those junker bosses, merely led him to a 
careful review of the principles he had striven 
to bring to the attention of that community, 
with the object or desire to eliminate there- 
from everything not absolutely true. 

Pioneers along any line of thought, or along 
any line of action, are invariably persecuted, 
hence, pioneers opposing junker boss rule 
have no reason to expect immunity there- 
from; however the writer particularly desires 
to avoid wandering too far away from the 
fact he earnestly desires to emphasize, viz.: 



134 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

that the brand of patriotism which peace de- 
mands is not the popular one; that, as a matter 
of fact, it is an extremely unpopular brand 
with the junker bosses who rule us, conse- 
quently, that patriots laboring in the inter- 
ests of a sound and healthy public sentiment, 
must ever expect a fight, even though said 
fight never does come into open view. Also 
he must be prepared for slyly planned and 
slyly executed persecutions, but to every true 
American this fight will simply add zest to 
the adventure. 

In the foregoing, under his presentation of 
the subject of Individualism, the writer 
briefly called attention to the fact that an 
incipient clash had always existed between or- 
ganized society, and the individual; pioneers 
must expect to bear the brunt of this clash. 
Independence either of thought or action, 
seems to madden organized society. 

The World's Greatest Democrat, Jesus of 
Nazareth, when studied from a strictly hu- 
man — political — point of view, was simply an 
Independent, who strongly emphasized the 
dignity and importance of the individual as 
an integral part of the organized mass of 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 135 

society. For his temerity in this respect the 
Roman State (very willingly, no doubt) at 
the instigation of the organized Jewish 
Church, crucified Him. 

Nowadays, nearly two thousand years 
afterward, it is no longer fashionable to cru- 
cify Independents; nothing of that kind 
"goes"; all our junker bosses (supported by a 
misled organized society) do, is to craftily cut 
off his means of making a livelihood; only 
that — and nothing more — some scheme, 
what? 

But the world does move, slowly nevertheless, 
it moves. The progress thereof, can be very 
safely and accurately estimated by the growth 
of the spirit of tolerance, forbearance in the 
condemnation of the faults of others; toler- 
ance, in the individual, naturally grows up in 
the mind of the individual who honestly, 
earnestly and persistently, struggles to 
overcome and wholly eradicate his innate 
spirit of Aristocracy, self-righteousness, self- 
conceit. 

Each and every individual at birth is an 
aristocrat, born, however, with a capacity to 
rise above that, if he so chooses; in other 



136 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

words, he is born into a love of self — self- 
worship, vanity, self-conceit, self-righteous- 
ness, a supercilious feeling of superiority — 
but is possessed of a capacity of developing a 
love of Right, for the sake of Right, a love of 
Truth, for the sake of Truth, and a love of 
Justice, for the sake of Justice; it follows as a 
matter of fact, that Aristocrats sometimes 
never rise above the Aristocratic spirit; but 
strange to note these are the ones who haugh- 
tily assume superiority over the others, and 
insist that they are "the best", consequently, 
are the only ones fitted by nature and train- 
ing to rule all the others. 

At heart, Aaron Burr never did rise above 
this arrogant spirit, hence never did learn to 
appreciate such men as Washington, there- 
fore it is not strange that under the r6gime 
naturally growing out of the system estab- 
lished by him, men of patriotic character 
were to be carefully eliminated; every one 
knows that under this regime, men whose com- 
petency is above criticism — but who, if they 
live up to the doctrine of "the greatest good 
to the greatest number", the spirit of patrio- 
tism — could not secure recognition in poli- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 137 

tics, outside of their own township, for any 
office that any one of "the gang" happened 
to want. 

Is it a self-evident truth, that "all men are 
created equal"? Or was Mr. Jefferson just 
joking — playing to the galleries, so to speak 
— when he wrote that into our Declaration 
of Independence? If the above brief glance 
at man's real character be sound doctrine, 
Mr. Jefferson was unanswerably correct. We 
are all created equally and incipiently bad, 
and we each have the chance to decide in 
which direction we desire to develop our 
character, upwards toward the light, toward 
higher and better qualities within ourselves, 
or downwards, toward swinish animalism, 
self-indulgence, and mercenary greed. Those 
who decide in favor of the latter, will grow, 
from bad to worse ; those who decide in favor 
of the former, will also grow toward Inde- 
pendent individualism, towards freedom, to- 
wards higher conceptions of Right, of Truth, 
and of Justice; but the emphatic point is, 
that at birth they start equal, at the zero of 
personal development, at the zero of indivi- 
dual intelligence. 



138 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Before Democracy can be made "safe for 
the world", we as individuals, must rise above 
that fool notion that one person was created 
better — superior, to another. Every indivi- 
dual is either an Aristocrat or a Democrat; 
the aristocratic spirit is as natural as weeds, 
and he who would rise above it, must be pre- 
pared to put up a never-ending fight against 
it, just as a farmer must put up a never- 
ending fight against weeds. Self-righteous- 
ness has been, and always will be, the curse of 
religion, and aristocracy (which is self- 
righteousness re-christened) always has been, 
and always will be, the curse of politics; to 
overcome either calls for a life-long struggle; 
our struggles and failures — especially the 
failures — should convince all, that we are 
equally weak, hence, should sympathize with 
each other. 

This feeling of sympathy is the foundation 
upon which the superstructure of Modern 
Individualism — Democracy — is built; out of 
this spirit of sympathy is born the spirit of 
tolerance, by which we may safely and ac- 
curately estimate man's progress upward 
toward a higher civilization. Democracy is 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 139 

sometimes sneeringly referred to as govern- 
ment "for the under dog" ; as a matter of fact, 
therein rests its chief glory; except ye be born 
again thru a never ending struggle toward the 
Democratic spirit, ye cannot even understand, 
much less appreciate Democratic government. 
From the political standpoint, the New Birth 
is an altogether different thing from the New 
Birth (as interpreted by theologians) in re- 
ligion; the doctrine of an instantaneous 
change — "in the twinkling of an eye" — can- 
not be made to apply. There is no royal 
road, or short cut, in the political re-birth 
from Aristocracy, into an understanding and 
appreciation of Democracy; the latter re- 
birth imperatively demands the fighting, un- 
conquerable spirit of a real soldier; "He who 
conquereth himself is greater than he that 
taketh a city" all of which demonstrates the 
importance in politics of individual freedom 
for self-development from the inside. 

After about a century's "tryout", trial, 
test, of this Burr-Marcy-Junker-Bastard 
traitorous scheme for the subversion — upset- 
ting — of a government "of the people, by the 
people, for the people", in the interests of a 



140 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

perfidious government "of the politicians, by 
the politicians, for the politicians" — trai- 
torous scheme for a "practical" prostitution 
of our public servants — representatives — into 
truckling boot-lickers (pliant tools) of the 
junker bosses who engineered their election — 
traitorous scheme for eliminating "The Best" 
from political leadership — it were well for us 
as a nation, to pause long enough to secure a 
clear notion of our present whereabouts and 
bearings, provided we hope, intelligently, 
to continue to navigate the political high 
seas. 

Undoubtedly the following facts are clear 
to all: (1) That under the regime naturally 
resulting from said traitorous scheme, our 
two leading parties have become mere job- 
getting machines — freebooters, outlaws, pi- 
rates, buccaneers — navigating the political 
high seas for private gain, only, seeking no 
higher light than the phosphorescent glow of 
human expediency; each has abandoned its 
high ideals (based on Right, for the sake of 
Right, on Truth, for the sake of Truth, on 
Justice, for the sake of Justice) thru the ad- 
vocacy and support of which they each, in 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 141 

their own turn and time, grew into a popu- 
larity which finally led to success at the polls ; 
consequently either one, if placed in power, is 
as apt to lead public sentiment downward as 
upward. 

(2) That under said regime, there has been 
a very marked decadence, in this country, of 
the spirit of patriotism ; in raising our army for 
this world's war, had we depended on volun- 
tary enlistments, this decadence would have 
become painfully apparent; very little of the 
noble idealism and self-abnegation — self-con- 
secration — constituting the very soul of true 
patriotism, can be found in the doctrines of, 
"the party can do no wrong", "let the steam 

roller do its work", the "public be da d" 

and "a man is a d d fool to have anything 

to do with politics, unless he is getting good 
pay for it" ; nor in Tweed Rings; nor in Credit 
Mobilier; nor in Post Traderships; nor in 
Whiskey Rings; nor Star Routes; nor Rotten 
Canned Beef; nor in "jack-pot" politics, and 
bi-partisan Alliances; nor "the bar'l"; nor 
"slush funds", and campaign assessments; 
nor "blocks of five"; nor electoral commis- 
sions; nor Congressional "pork barrels", 



142 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

which, with us seem to have become a per- 
manent institution. 

Whither do we drift? To the thoughtful 
student of our politics, it is perfectly clear 
that from party idolatry (with its "jack-pot" 
politics, bi-partisan alliances, and numerous 
other rotten schemes) the natural drift is 
toward government by money; which is but 
a short step removed from government by 
the gun; government by the gun means, in 
the end, anarchy, the natural refuge from 
which invariably is, monarchy. 

(3) That for this rotten condition of our 
political affairs, each of our said leading 
parties is about equally responsible ; each in 
the beginning secured the popularity which 
finally led to success at the polls, thru the 
advocacy and persistently steady support of 
high ideals of political life and each betrayed 
itself by deliberately surrendering its loyalty 
to ideals of that quality, in the interests of 
those persons having axes to grind. After 
having betrayed itself, it is not strange that 
each stood ready to betray its country, by 
poisoning public sentiment thru the advocacy 
of false doctrines, and by debauching the 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 143 

high ideals of manhood, of citizenship, of 
patriotism, in the rising generations; after 
self-betrayal, leadership by and thru a poli- 
tical party inevitably and invariably be- 
comes a case of "the blind leading the blind". 
Mr. Shakespeare's doctrine of 'To thine own 
self be true, and it follows as the night the day, 
thou canst not then be false to any man", 
applies with as much force to a political 
party, as to an individual. 

Under these conditions, is it strange that the 
trend of our times is toward the development of 
crafty and shrewd wire-pullers, instead of 
patriots? Of politicians instead of statesmen? 

Henry Clay once voiced the sentiment, 
"Sir, I would rather be right, than be Presi- 
dent". The shrieking need of the present 
hour, is for a political party possessed of suffi- 
cient spiritual vision to clearly see, and the 
moral courage to live up to the doctrine, "To 
do right, is always wise," a political party 
which places a higher valuation upon patrio- 
tism than upon party success; which thinks 
more of the health of public sentiment than 
of popularity. 

Political parties have yet to learn, that 



144 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

there is but one safe compass for use in the 
navigation of the political high seas, to wit; 
the Divine Trinity — Right, for the sake of 
Right; Truth, for the sake of Truth; and 
Justice, for the sake of Justice. Whenever a 
political party throws away this compass it 
does so at its own peril, and demonstrates 
that as a leader of public sentiment, it is un- 
worthy of the confidence and trust of the 
common people. 

The above naturally suggests the Socialist 
Party, but the fact should never be over- 
looked, that no matter how high may be the 
ideals of that party, it is seeking their realiza- 
tion by and thru this base-born party system, 
which is simply another form of the Aristo- 
cratic Theory; besides, Socialism seems to be, 
as yet, in a very plastic, fluid state, it being 
difficult to find socialists who agree in defini- 
tions thereof; however, they do seem to agree 
to a species of Deification — glorification — 
sanctification, of the government to be estab- 
lished by and thru its regime. 

It certainly would be difficult to convert 
an Individualist, particularly a Modern In- 
dividualist, to this doctrine; we all recognize 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 145 

the fact, that all government thru human 
agencies must of necessity be imperfect, and 
more or less weak. The American people 
seem disposed to test some of the Socialistic 
theories, and that were wise, because if So- 
cialism can be made to contribute anything 
to the cause of better government, we as 
Americans should hold a receptive attitude of 
mind toward it. But honesty and truthful- 
ness compels the writer to confess grave 
doubts as to whether we are yet ripe for ex- 
periments along this line. 

Returning to a consideration of our two 
leading parties, the phosphorescent glow of 
human expediency — self-derived intelligence 
— is too dim and uncertain, too unreliable, a 
light for use in navigating the political 
high seas; the waters are too turbulent, and 
the currents too changeable; poor weak and 
puny man is continually trying to cut loose 
from God's Truth and Justice, but invariably 
finds that "The way of the transgressor is 
hard"; political parties have the same lesson 
to learn : Will they? 

Dear Reader — the foregoing briefly out- 
lines (without intentional exaggeration) the 



146 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

existing conditions of our politics; surely 
the rotten mess of pottage — garbage — for 
which Americans have bartered away their 
birthright is too vile, filthy and rotten for 
anybody, except for our junker politicians 
who (like maggots) seem to fatten on filth. 



Somewhat Denunciatory 

Beware of the leaven — doctrine — of the 
Junkers (party bosses) for, at heart, they are 
ravening wolves, prowling around in sheep's 
clothing. Except your patriotism shall ex- 
ceed the patriotism of the Junkers and Aristo- 
crats, ye shall in no case enter into either a 
knowledge, or even into an appreciation of 
Democratic government. 

Man's spiritual eyesight — vision — develops, 
grows, in accordance with the quality of his 
heart's — soul's — affections ; wherever thy 
treasure is, there will thy heart be also; a 
genuine love of Truth and Justice, tends to 
develop a higher and keener sense of both; 
the light of the body is the eye; if therefore, 
thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 147 

of light: But if thy eye be evil, thy whole 
body shall be full of darkness. If therefore, 
the light that is in thee be darkness, how 
great is that darkness! They whose deeds are 
evil, love darkness better than light. No man 
can serve two masters; for either he will hate 
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold 
to one, and despise the other. 

Ye cannot serve Democracy and Aristoc- 
racy. What shall it profit a political party, 
if it shall gain the whole world and lose its 
high ideals of manhood and patriotism? 
What a despicable, contemptible thing a poli- 
tical party invariably becomes after it loses 
those high ideals! What a helpless and 
worthless thing it is when it has become 
spiritually blind — corrupt! 

Woe unto you, junkers — party idolaters — 
and Aristocrats, hypocrites! for ye would, not 
only deprive the individuals composing the 
rank and file of the party of their freedom to 
oppose your opinions, but ye would also, 
whenever possible, deprive them of all oppor- 
tunity to learn to do their own thinking, thus 
reducing them to a species of Feudalistic 
vassalage, having nothing to do or say in 



148 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

politics, except to blindly obey — like a hun — 
or a sheep — the party bosses. 

Woe unto you, junkers and Aristocrats, 
hypocrites! for ye blatantly declare for govern- 
ment by "the best" but in practice, follow a 
scheme which carefully and effectually elim- 
inates "the best", from political leadership; 
under the workings of this scheme, the poli- 
tical grave of any person who exhibits symp- 
toms of an "in-growing" conscience, or any 
person who shows signs of caring more for the 
general welfare than for the success of the 
party, is dug just as soon as either of those 
facts is discovered. 

Ye fools and blind; for which is greater, 
the party, or the general welfare of the com- 
munity in which the party pretends to labor 
in the interests of the general good; whoso 
sweareth by the party, sweareth by an idol; 
whoso sweareth by the community (in which 
the party lives, moves and has its being) as 
a patriot, doeth right; ye blind guides, which 
strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 

Woe to you, junkers and Aristocrats, hypo- 
crites! for ye strive to present a clean appear- 
ance from the outside, but within ye are filled 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 149 

with schemes for deceiving — misleading, bam- 
boozling — the common people, by lies, sophis- 
tries, intrigue and unscrupulous fraud. 

Woe unto you, junkers and Aristocrats, 
hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited 
sepulchres, which indeed appear all right on 
the outside, but within are a cesspool of rotten 
filth and corruption ; even so amongst men ye 
outwardly appear as statesmen, but within 
ye are filled full of slippery tricks, lies and 
hypocrisy. Thou blind Aristocrat and junker 
cleanse ye first that which is within the cup 
and platter, that the outside may also be 
clean. 

Woe unto you, junkers and Aristocrats, 
hypocrites! for ye compass land and sea to 
make a proselyte, and when made, ye imme- 
diately begin to pull down his sound and 
healthy ideals of manhood, of citizenship, of 
patriotism, by saturating his mind with the 
poison of thy false doctrines — sophistries. 

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! In 
the final outcome, how do ye hope to escape 
the condemnation of the individuals thru 
whom you expect to secure and retain power? 
Do ye assume that ye can "fool all the people 



150 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

all the time"? It is conceded without argu- 
ment, that the "common herd" is extremely 
slow to wake up, and that at the present time 
it is "asleep at the switch"; but sooner or 
later — presumably later — it is sure to get 
"next" to all your sophistries, and wake up 
to the fact that ye are no friend of it; then 
something is sure to drop, and it is quite pos- 
sible — even probable — that sooner or later 
— presumably later — ye will awaken to a 
full realization of just what the "something" 
is. 

Aristocrats had just such an awakening in 
France during the French Revolution. Is a 
word to the wise sufficient? If so it is up to 
you to demonstrate your wisdom before it is 
everlastingly too late; the record would seem 
to indicate that, instead of belonging to the 
"wisehiemer" class, ye may more properly be 
classed with the children of hell, with those 
spiritual forces that kill the souls of men for 
wordly distinctions and for worldly gain. 

Lives there an American with — "gall" — ef- 
frontery — impudence — enough, to stand up 
before his fellow citizens, and defend this 
Burr-Marcy-Junker system of party idolatry, 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 151 

specially designed and built as a means of 
misleading — bamboozling — our common 
people? 

If so, is there in any country, clime, or lan- 
guage a name sufficiently despicable, infamous, 
vile, low and filthy with which to designate 
him — but, why seek a name? A stench by 
any other name would smell as rank. 



Our National Disease 

And now, dear reader, have I made it clear 
that for over a century our body politic has 
been in the process of being saturated — filled 
with political poison — false doctrine? 

It is the nature of a cancer to feed upon the 
poison it finds in the circulation; its growth, 
sometimes, is very, very slow, but so long as 
the poison is there — in the circulation — it 
lives and continues to grow. Externally it 
may seem a very innocent and harmless thing, 
but so long as the poison is in the system it 
will continue to live and continue to grow 
but if the poison upon which it fattens and 
grows be shut off, very naturally it starves 



152 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

to death, and disappears; otherwise, there is 
sure to come a time when it becomes malig- 
nant — ugly — and extremely dangerous. A 
political cancer in the body politic, works in 
exactly the same way. 

Junkerism in Germany for a long, long 
time exhibited no dangerous tendencies, but 
finally became malignant. Likewise in 
France, Bourbonism in the end, was forced, 
thru the French Revolution, to expiate in 
blood and suffering for its preceding years of 
false doctrine — poison — embodied in its na- 
tional life. Likewise in England, Aristocracy, 
in the end, was forced to "pay the price". 
Can we hope, simply by shutting our eyes to 
evade the penalty? 

In the foregoing, the writer has, repeatedly, 
emphasized the fact, that nothing in our na- 
tional life, is so important, as the health of 
our public sentiment: In the reconstructive 
period, following the World's Great War, the 
interests of "A Democracy safe for the 
world", imperatively demand of us as a na- 
tion, that we reconstruct public sentiment 
in this country, with a view to eliminating the 
false doctrines — poison — upon which our 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 153 

American Junkers have been feeding and 
fattening for more than a century. 

Bob Ingersoll — everybody knows some- 
thing of Bob — once flippantly remarked, 
that the wisdom of existing natural laws 
could be improved by "making health catch- 
ing"; in this connection it is well to bear 
in mind, that the Psychic Law of Suggestion 
as demonstrated in recent years, establishes 
the fact, that good health really is catch- 
ing. 

Accepting said Law of Suggestion as at 
least plausible, the writer, in the interests of 
a sound and healthy public sentiment sub- 
joins hereto An American's Political Creed, 
the tendency of which he believes will be, in 
a suggestive way, to neutralize and thus help 
to eliminate much of the poison — false doc- 
trine — with which our public mind has been 
saturated during the last century. 

From said Creed, the writer strove to elim- 
inate all rhetorical flourish — spread-eagle 
clap- trap, oratorical bunk — and to embody 
therein the simple laws of political health ; as 
to how well he succeeded the reader is free to 
judge for himself. 



154 AMERICAN JUNKERS 



AN AMERICAN'S POLITICAL CREED 

I BELIEVE: First: That the healthiest, broadest — 
best — development of any of the organized forms of 
society, is surest reached thru a development of the 
individuals composing it. 

Second: That great men are simply common men 
who have been given a fair chance (which they used 
wisely) to grow; and that our highest growth as indi- 
viduals, depends upon our loyalty to the noblest within 
us. 

Third: That no real development of the individual 
can be secured, except in freedom; that no restrictions 
should be placed on that freedom, except the single 
one of justice as embodied in the Golden Rule; and 
that all seeming development of the individual while 
kept in leading strings, is as delusive as an attempted 
regeneration from the outside. 

Fourth: That Modern Individualism — Democracy 
— seeks (in peace, if honorably possible), the equality 
of the whole human family, not by pulling down those 
above, but by making it possible for those below to 
develop themselves. 

Fifth: That in the great Family of Nations, an in- 
jury to one is the concern of all, and that each nation 
should be permitted to work out its own civilization 
according to its own ideals, conditions and environ- 
ments, so long as it does not trample upon the rights 
of other nations. 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 155 

Sixth: That our Constitution is the Magna Charta 
of our Democracy, but that the freedom enjoyed there- 
under by us is so common that, like fresh air and sun- 
shine, it is frequently unappreciated and sometimes 
abused — liberty is not license. 

Seventh: That too much party spirit leads away from 
patriotism; but that we can safely rely upon our com- 
mon people to rise above partyism whenever it becomes 
a menace to Democratic government. 

Eighth: That the unwavering faith of Washington, 
Jefferson and Lincoln, in the final decisions of our 
common people, will yet stand forth gloriously justified 
before the whole world. 

Concerning the above Creed, it will be 
observed that the first five Articles bear upon 
some definite phase of Individualism, while 
the seventh and eighth emphasize the funda- 
mental principle of Democracy, to wit: a con- 
fidence and trust in the final decisions of our 
common people. 



156 AMERICAN JUNKERS 



THE REMEDY— IN A NUTSHELL 

To make "Democracy safe for the world", is 

fully as important as to make "the 

world safe for Democracy" 

In the foregoing pages I have repeatedly- 
emphasized the fact, that a sound and healthy- 
public sentiment is the most important phase 
of our political life as a nation. 

It is impossible to place too much stress 
upon this point. As an aid toward the forma- 
tion of such a sentiment, a study of "An 
American's Political Creed" in our High 
Schools could not fail materially to contri- 
bute to the growth of higher ideals of Ameri- 
canism in the rising generation (the "white 
hope" of our political future). 

For ourselves, as well as for the world at 
large, the Americanization of Americans, is 
the shrieking need of the hour; no other re- 
constructive work can possibly equal it in 
importance; that work is, necessarily, indi- 



AMERICAN JUNKERS 157 

vidualistic in its nature. It is within the 
power of each individual to kill within him- 
self, every vestige of the spirit of party wor- 
ship, and in doing this he will be contribu- 
ting "his bit", in a patriotic way, toward the 
creation, cultivation and spread of "A Dem- 
ocracy safe for the world". 

Q. When does a political party become a 
traitor to its country? 

A . When it degenerates into a mere spoils- 
getting machine. 

Q. When does an American cease to be an 
American ? 

A. Whenever he becomes a party idolater. 

Q. When does he become a party idolater? 

A. Whenever he subordinates the general 
welfare — the public good — to the success of 
a party. 

Our idiotic attempt to administer our Ameri- 
can Constitution by and thru an Unamerican, 
Undemocratic, Feudalistic, Junker, system is 
insidiously undermining the truly American 
spirit. Shall we unite in an honest effort to 
Americanize Americans'? 



158 AMERICAN JUNKERS 

Can we afford to indulge the spirit of "Let 
George do it"? Have we not too long ' 'Slept 
at the Switch"? Is not the spirit of "Os- 
trich Optimism" fraught with grave dangers? 

IT — IS — UP — TO — US. 



THE END 



